Partners
by AcousticMemory
Summary: Five weeks before his sister's wedding, Haru Glory's forced into a partnership that will change his life, possibly forever. Haru/Lucia. Yaoi, not for under 18's. AU, Slight OOC. BEING REWORKED, Most of story is down currently.
1. Ch1:: Monday Morning From Hell

Partners

Acoustic Memory

Disclaimer : I neither own nor make money off of any of my content. All characters, brands, and or miscellaneous products are copyright of their rightful owners. I only write for your entertainment.

AN: So yes, I am currently reworking Partners (again) This time my plans include actually adding some extra content that wasn't there before, as well as fixing a lot of my types and grammar issues. For those fans of mine that have wanted to see more of my work, I'm sorry for taking so long getting to this point. For fans of Partners, this is for you! Also I'll be posting word counts, both the original and the reworked versions!

Prev. Chapter Word Count: 1,217

New Chapter Word Count: 2,466

Chapter 1 :: Monday Morning From Hell

I ran my hands through my spiky, silver hair as I entered my bathroom, not ready to even be awake this early in the morning. Well, it really wasn't my bathroom, considering I had a roommate. I considered it mine anyways because I paid most of the rent and had lived alone until just a few months ago. Eventually a time came when a guy just couldn't afford to keep living alone. It was either move my best friend in with me, which worked out perfect for him since his lease was up at his place, or move back in with my older sister… obviously that was the last thing I wanted to do after just getting out on my own.

I let out a groan when I splashed my face with ice cold water, trying to fully wake myself up. I hated early mornings, but unfortunately with my late sign up, I had gotten a 9am Psychology class instead of later in the afternoon like the rest of my classes. Even after a month and a half I was still surprised that I was a college student. It was weird to know that I survived through four years of high school and lived to tell the tale. Being a teenager was rough when your only parent was your older sister, and everyone tended to hit on her because she was supposedly hot. She was a babe, even I could admit that. Didn't make it easier hearing it from mots of my friends though. I grabbed my toothbrush. At least my hair wasn't too hard to take care of… it pretty much fell into place when I needed it to.

"Hey, Haru! Are you almost done in there?" my best friend and roommate pounded on the door. I rolled my eyes. It wasn't like I had been there for half and hour or anything… Musica was just impatient. Usually I made a habit of getting in the bathroom before him otherwise he would take forever doing his hair. His excuse was that a guy needed to look good if he wanted to impress the ladies. My excuse was that he was too damn picky about his own looks and needed to get a life.

"Yeah, give me another minute or two!" I called back, my words garbled by the toothbrush in my mouth. I wasn't expecting a reply from him, so I was surprised when he said:

"So, uh, how are things going between you and Elie? You didn't look to happy when you got home last night… Didn't you two have a date with her or something?" I could hear the concern in Musica's voice. That's what I liked most about the bossy brunette; he always cares about his friends, even if it's about trivial things. We had met through odd circumstances and had pretty much been best friends ever since then. He was a couple of years older than me, but that didn't seem to bother him a bit; we were both just big kids at heart anyways.

I put my toothbrush away and opened the door. He was leaning against the wall next to the door, already fully dressed and ready to head off to the motorcycle shop he worked at during the day. He had two jobs, which is something I would have loved to do if I had had the time for it. College took up most of my life, and the rest was taken up by the one part-time job I did have, plus trying to be a good brother and a good boyfriend. "Yeah, but she had to cancel out… She got called into work about an hour before I was supposed to pick her up, something about one of the girls getting the stomach flu and needing a replacement. It sucks because it's always Elie that gets called in. I mean it's good because that means they rely on her, and it's a good job… but I wish it didn't always happen when we have plans" I shrugged. I wasn't angry at her for it; she was making better money than all of us working at a nursing home as an assistant, and they helped pay for some of her nursing classes. It was a good deal for her, it just hurt when she constantly had to ditch me for work. We hadn't gone out on a real date in almost three months."We're doing pretty good now, but it's still a bit awkward, if you know what I mean."

Musica nodded, moving out of my way so I could move into the hallway with him. "But then why were you so pissed, then? You don't hold a grudge very often so I figured it was something bad."

"No. Not Elie-related at least… it's the damn wedding," I said with no lack of venom, glaring at the tan carpet. My sister was marrying her boyfriend of a few years in just five short weeks, and I was very frustrated with her. Not just because she was a bridezilla, though that was a huge part of it, but because I didn't think he was right for her. My future brother-in-law wasn't my favorite person in the world, and probably never would be. I was just forced to deal with him because Catt was apparently so in love with him. She always had horrible taste in men. "I think Catt's heading into this **way** too quickly. Even Shuda's starting to panic and is trying to get her to take it a little slower!"

Musica chuckled, looking at me with a hint of sympathy in his eyes. "She's been dating him for five years now. Just last year she was freaking out because she thought he was never going to ask," he rolled his eyes. "She's excited. You two need to let her just do her thing and be happy that she's happy. It could be a lot worse, trust me."

I sighed and ran a hand through my hair in frustration. He was right, I knew that, but if I had my choice she wouldn't be marrying Shuda at all. The red-headed asshole was the bane of my existence, next to waking up early in the morning. I had many reasons to not like him, a few being sort of pathetic. I guess part of me was a bit jealous because I felt like he was talking her away from me. I would never say that though, if I had a choice; I was supposed to be a grown man now, out on my own in the real world. Missing my sister just made me look weak and I couldn't do that. Besides, she had always put off her happiness for my sake, and I didn't want to be her roadblock anymore.

I waved to him dismissively as I headed back to my room to finish preparing for the day. As I searched for a shirt that was actually clean (or at least clean-smelling as I had forgotten to do laundry over the weekend), I glanced at the picture of Elie and I that my sister had taken of us during last year's prom. I had never been into the whole dating thing during high school. It wasn't that I wasn't attracted to girls, it's more like I didn't have the time or energy for them. By senior year there were rumors going around that I was gay, so I started dating Elie. She had always been a good friend of mine, and I couldn't deny that she was one of the hottest girls in school. We never were truly attracted to each other emotionally, but things were slowly getting better between us, or so I thought. I wanted to believe I would have my fairytale ending with her, if such a thing existed. I didn't want to give up on something that most guys would kill for, just because I wasn't really feeling into her. She had been so good to me over the past year, it was hard to let go, especially since I had nothing going for me in the dating department. I was good-looking, according to everyone around me, but I wasn't really dating material to many of the girls for whatever reason. Guess I just wasn't buff enough for them. I was strong in my own way, but I didn't have muscles like Shuda, or a smooth tongue like Musica. I was socially awkward some times.

As I changed into my clothes for the day I realized just how late in the morning it was; it was almost 8:30. That meant I was already running late for class. I grabbed a can of soda out of the refrigerator, calling out a quick goodbye to Musica as I left. Morning ritual required guzzling a can of Coke before the Psychology class that I wish I wasn't required to take. It was convenient, living only three blocks away from Symphonia University, which was the college I had chosen to attend. It was still a ten or fifteen minute walk anyways, and that was on a slow traffic day, both in the streets and on the sidewalks. Living in a college town meant it was constantly busy and a lot of people were out at this time in the morning, heading to work and class. Somehow I still managed to be late every morning, though this morning more so than usual.

"How nice of you to join us today, Mr. Glory. It would be even better if you would do it on time next time," Instructor Sieg Hart said coolly, though the gleam in his eyes told me that he was extremely annoyed. I was positive that he, a good friend of Shuda and Catt's, would be more than happy to inform my sister of my seventh offense of being late to his class. Did I mention that these tardies were in the past three weeks? Catteleya was going to kill me… She hated when I was late to anything, whether or not it affected her. She always told me in her bossiest voice, "Dammit Haru Glory I did NOT raise you to be late everywhere! Always leave early enough to get there ten minutes earlier than needed!" Even now I could hear her nagging me at the back of my head, much to my displeasure. She was a good sister, but sometimes she could be a bit… annoying.

I took my seat in the back, right behind Elie. She was the only reason I really even bothered to tolerate the class, and even then she wasn't always a good reason. She was doing perfectly fine in the class; psychology had been one of her best subjects in school; we always joked that it was because she was so crazy herself. I hated the class personally, and it wasn't just because of the teacher. I didn't care how the human brain worked, just that it worked at all. I mean some things were interesting to learn about, like dreams, and subconscious signals and such. That was just one chapter though, and we didn't go too in depth about it.

Sieg was answering questions about some project he had been talking about assigning to us. It was something that had been discussed before in class, and I tuned everyone out, staring at the white brick of the wall. I hated projects, but it wasn't a huge deal; Elie would end up being my partner anyways. She always volunteered to work with me because she knew I was hopeless without her. I had other things I was worried about at the moment, and Elie always explained this shit better to me than he did. My mind kept wandering to Catt's wedding; it was only five weeks away. Somehow I ended up as a groomsman alongside Let with Sieg as best man. Elie had managed to get the title of maid of honor. I had begged Catt for weeks to find someone else so I could walk with Elie instead of Catt's friend Reina. Let got to walk with his girlfriend, Julia, so I felt it only fair that I could walk with mine. Reina was okay but she was a bit of a bitch some times, and she tended to tease and pick on me.

"Okay, everyone, get together with the partner that I just called out and discuss what you might want to do for the project," the blue-haired teacher's voice broke through my reverie. I looked at Elie and she gave me a horrified look that told me something had gone horribly wrong. Then I slowly realized what he was saying… instead of letting us pair up, he had assigned us partners. That never turned out in my favor before, and Sieg was a cruel bastard some times.

"Assigned partners?" I gasped, a bit shocked. Why would he do that to us? Usually he didn't want to bother with doing something like that. It was too much effort only for everyone to bitch about it until he changed who their partner was in the end. "Who am I with? I wasn't listening earlier."

Elie sort of motioned her head behind me before scooting off to meet with her partner. "Do you ever listen to anybody?" a deep familiar voice made every bone in my body freeze., and not in an entirely unpleasant way. This was a person I had had actual feelings for since middle school, but never acted on them because of the connotations of liking another boy in any affectionate way. I turned to look at my worst enemy and greatest object of lust.

Standing with all five-foot-eight-inches of hard muscle and a head of beautiful blond hair, was Lucia Raregroove, son of my father's worst enemy, and now my Psychology partner. This was going to be one bitch of a Monday morning.


	2. Ch2 :: Roulette

Partners

Acoustic Memory

Disclaimer : I neither own nor make money off of any of my content. All characters, brands, and or miscellaneous products are copyright of their rightful owners. I only write for your entertainment.

AN: So yes, I am currently reworking Partners (again) This time my plans include actually adding some extra content that wasn't there before, as well as fixing a lot of my types and grammar issues. For those fans of mine that have wanted to see more of my work, I'm sorry for taking so long getting to this point. For fans of Partners, this is for you! Also I'll be posting word counts, both the original and the reworked versions!

Prev. Chapter Word Count: 2,321

New Chapter Word Count: 3,664

Chapter 2 :: Roulette

I glared at Lucia and his stupid, arrogant smirk. On many levels, hated him with every fiber of my being; I wanted to beat the hell out of him every time he smirked at me like that. He acted like I was something lesser than him, ever since high school! I wanted to yell at him, call him every name in the book just because he was just an asshole… I wanted to run my hand through his blond hair, to wipe that smirk off his lips with a kiss. This was the greatest of all of my dilemmas. He was the only person in the world who could piss me off and turn me on all at the same time. It had frustrated me for all four years of high school, when he had first moved into town, and continued to frustrate me to this day. I didn't like anyone having that much control over me. I also didn't like the fact that I got so flustered over a guy. I was supposed to be straight, wasn't I?

I wasn't truly sure how it had come to be like this… Our father's had once been friends, but sometime before either of us was born they had a fallout, and it was a very explosive fallout that my father often reminisced about to my mom. I have a feeling Lucia's dad did the same, however my dad spent more of his time wondering if he could make things right. I first met Lucia when we were five, and our fathers had gone to the wedding of a mutual friend. My dad drug me along because mom and Catt wanted a girl's day out and didn't want to go to the wedding. However mom had bought me a new little suit and wanted dad to show me off… and he did…

It hadn't been pretty, from what I remember. There was some alcohol involved, some names were called and some punches were thrown, and it escalated to a fight between them and a few other guys. I simply stood off to the side, not too far away from Lucia… that didn't go well either… I didn't like Lucia even back then, he was bossy and pushy and rude to me. He had only gotten worse as he aged into adulthood. Of course, that was probably because his father was in prison for murder. That's another story completely.

Through high school we were pretty much just rivals, challenging each other at just about everything we did. As much I hated football, I joined the football team sophomore year just because I thought I was better at it then him, though by the end of the season in junior year I quit. I kicked his ass in basketball for four years in a row. Physically anything we competed in was pretty equal. If there were points tallied up, we would have broke even by the end of it all. In academics, he made me look like the stupidest kid in school. I was lazy, but I had the knowledge to at least survive through any subject. I had to work my ass off to pass though, while he seemed to strive to overcome everyone else, and he made it seem so effortless. His grades outbeat any one else's, and he would have been valedictorian had he not skipped out on the ceremony. It was always a battle between the two of us, and nothing had changed since graduation except we had to see a lot less of each other.

I heard Elie move away, assuming she was going to join her own partner, but my focus was solely on how I was going to manage this situation. I was positive this project was going to end in tragedy. There was no way we'd be able to tolerate each other long enough to finish any type of project, especially one where we had no choice but to work together. Sieg wouldn't hesitate to fail us, not to mention he only ever assigned partners if it was something we had to work together to do. Otherwise he let us pick out our own partners; just as long as the work was done.

"I know I look like a god, but it's really not nice to stare…" Lucia sat down in the desk next to mine, raising an eyebrow at me. Typical arrogant Lucia.

"Screw you, Raregroove," I plopped down heavily in my chair, glaring at him out of the corner of my eye. He always had a way of annoying me without really even trying; or at least it seemed to me that he wasn't trying. I wasn't sure how to handle his temper, and to me it was better if I just never dealt with him.

"Sorry, Glory, I normally don't go for the pale, skinny type," he crossed his arms across his chest smugly. I gritted my teeth, not willing to admit that the comment actually sort of hurt. After all, he was my regular fantasy, and this was just further proof to crush those fantasies. Somehow everything that should make those types of things go away only tended to fuel the fire even more. It pissed me off even more than his holier-than-thou attitude. I didn't like feeling this way about him. I never wanted to be with a guy other than my occasional dreams about him. I was starting to think something was wrong with me for liking not just a guy, but this specific sadistic bastard.

"Let's just get this over with so that I don't have to deal with you any longer than necessary!" I replied angrily, not deeming his comment worth the breath to comment on. Had I bothered to keep looking at him, I probably would have seen the glimmer of hurt in his eyes. I didn't look up though, I didn't want to look at his smug grin anymore. I turned my head away from him instead. At the time I doubt I would have cared about anyways, because I was just as hurt and pissed off.

"Fine by me," came his stubborn reply after a minute or two of silence. Instead of talking about the project, though, we sat there brooding like little boys that had just been told to share a toy that we each felt the other didn't deserve. It wasn't like this was unusual for us, though no teacher had ever been dumb enough to pair us up. Most realized there was tension the moment we were both in a room together, and to avoid a massacre kept us on opposite sides of the classroom. Even that usually didn't help, he'd still find a way to bug me. Maybe Sieg was hoping we'd kill each other so it was one (or two) less students to deal with, especially since he wasn't particularly fond of either of us.

It was nearly the end of the class before we uttered another word to each other.

"What is this project even about?" I finally broke our hour-long silence, realizing I had no idea what we were supposed to be doing. I knew I should have been paying attention, yet I couldn't bring myself to really regret not listening to the blue-haired teacher. I just new that if I could somehow manage to do it by myself, I would have been glad to. It wasn't hard to put his name on the paper and make it look like we worked together, lots of people in class did it, and I had done in before without a hitch. Maybe I could even get Elie to help me a little bit. I waited for him to answer, watching him out of the corner of my eye again.

"First we have to fill out some survey and be able to tell the class three things about each other. That's why he didn't pair people in the class with their friends or significant others," he rolled his eyes, more at the idea of the project than the fact I hadn't been listening, I think. He didn't like social situations very much and had very few friends, so they could have paired him with just about anyone and gotten the exact same results as they were getting now. It was just worse with me. "After that, he called out partners and said he would tell us the second part of the project when we completed the first part…"

That was the most I had ever heard him speak before out of all the years I had known him, and I was shocked. I felt like I could have gotten lost in his deep voice, if I wasn't still angry with him. I had heard him speak before, but for once it didn't sound like he was being a jerk about having to explain something to someone else. I was so busy thinking of how nice his voice was that it took me a moment to process what the project meant for me. Then it dawned on me that to successfully complete the project I would have to get to know the blond beside me, and that knowledge sort of terrified me. At the time I wasn't sure why, but the thought of him being involved with any aspect of me (except for the parts of being my rival and the parts that he associated with in my dreams,) made me want to hide in a tightly locked vault and never come out. How did other people handle situations like this? I wasn't really sure, all I knew was I had to stick it out if I wanted to pass this class.

Instead I gulped down my fear and said in a indifferent tone, "Oh, okay…"

"Okay, everyone, that's it for this morning!" Sieg said, glancing at everyone as if we were slacking off. He usually didn't tolerate talking in his class, so this must have been hard for him to deal with. I didn't feel the least bit guilty for him. "We're probably not going work a lot on this in class, considering you're supposed to be getting to know your partner. We really don't want to hear things we already know about each other. So I'll see all of you tomorrow evening then. Now leave."

Sieg turned to his desk and started shuffling papers around as everyone began to leave. I glanced at Lucia, noticing he was focusing a little too hard on getting his papers in his bag. "So um… See ya, then, I guess…" I mumbled, trudging off, hopefully to peacefully make it to Business Math without much fault. It was a long walk from this end of the building to the next, and I was determined not to be late for another class.

"Hey, when are we going to get together to do this stuff… He said we're not going to be doing it in class, so I guess we actually have to try and work together…" Lucia asked as he followed me toward the room's exit. I stopped, slightly shocked he even suggested it. God, I wasn't sure if I wanted to even pass this class anymore. An hour alone with him outside of class? For sure one of us would end up floating in the river by the end of it, even though so far he was being as civil as I was sure he could ever be. At least he hadn't called me anything too horrible yet.

"We can figure it out tomorrow, I have to get to the other side of campus in the next twenty minutes," I said, motioning to the door. What was I supposed to tell him? 'Hey you can come over to my house tonight and we'll rock out to some music and spill our sob stories to each other'? I think not! So I left it at that and left, feeling kind of stupid and a little bit like a jerk. Then I felt stupid for even thinking that I felt guilty being a jerk to the King of Jerks. I dare you to say that one twenty times fast…

The rest of my day was pretty uneventful, other than many comments from Elie that she was proud of me for not killing Lucia, a few text messages from Musica that he was going to be out late that night, and a call from Catt yelling at me for being late to class again. Then again, after that morning, the planet it could have been eaten by a black hole and I really wouldn't have thought it dramatic. It wasn't like I stopped caring about the world around me, more like my mind kept wandering back to earlier in the day. Lucia really was a handsome guy. He was just a bit taller than me, maybe two or three inches at most. His hair had grown out over the summer and instead of the short spiked hair he had maintained for extracurriculars, he now had long locks that usually flowed over some sort of headband to keep it out of his face. I liked him better with long hair; most girls that had crushes on him preferred it too. He had wonderful gold eyes and a scar on his face from some sort of rock climbing accident back in freshman year. I think during a rock climbing expedition outside for PE he had gotten a bit cocky and slipped and fell. I was sick that day so I hadn't gone, all I knew was I had come back a few days later and he had a scar on his cheek. It looked like it had hurt, no matter how tough he acted about it. Someone had even said he had gotten back up, wiped the blood off of his face and started back up the cliff.

I spent most of my day trying to figure out how to handle the situation… where we could meet together with plenty of witnesses so I wouldn't turn up missing one day and not have someone there to say that I got killed brutally by the blond. Really I didn't think he'd do anything that stupid, but I had also heard horror stories of his temper from a few of the people that he called 'friends'. Even though he was what I thought about all day I didn't really start worrying until I started making my own fantasies about what I would have wanted to do had no one been in Psychology this morning with us. Normally I managed to keep my dreaming limited to when I was at home in bed, where no one was there to notice if certain parts got a little excited. Today was an exception.

_I walked up to him, caressing his cheek before pulling him into a rough kiss and unbuttoning his shirt. Next thing I knew I was on his lap in the very chair he had sat in that morning, trying to pull off all his clothes before he could remove mine, never once breaking our hungry kisses_... It didn't get much farther than that because the next thing I knew, Musica was slapping me upside the head and telling me it was time to go. He attended two or three classes there throughout the week for metal working, something that ran in his family. I didn't see the appeal.

I left the university just a bit dazed, trying to recall the dream as clear as it had been earlier. I liked the warm feeling in my chest it had provoked. Normally I was careful, after all, the streets near the college were always busy except for in the early hours of the morning. It was the center of business for the most part; there were plenty of cafes, stores and apartments that made life for a normal college student a lot easier, and there were bus systems and plenty of taxis that went through the area on top of the students and faculty that had vehicles.

I don't know why I didn't stop as I started to cross the street; I didn't look both ways even though a tiny voice at the back of my head said I should. I didn't even see the car coming until it was too late; one minute I was walking, and the next a sleek red car was coming at me so fast I barely registered that it was a danger. It felt like everything was moving in slow motion, as I prepared to collide with the vehicle, and every urge to run was paralyzed by one thought; Catt's going to kill me. Forget the fact that a car was rushing at me at 50 miles per hour. Dying by car was, even if painful, a better way to die. If I ended up with injuries, my sister was my biggest concern... And she could be cruel.

Next thing I knew I was rolling on the ground with someone's arms locked around me. My head bounced off the concrete hard and the world went dark with those little black spots that pop up when you get an impact. Through the pounding of my own pulse in my ears I heard screeching breaks, and a lot of yelling around me, though everything seemed sort of hazy at the time. I was sore from the impact with the ground, probably with a few scrapes and bruises, but I didn't feel like I had just been hit by someone's convertible at sixty miles per hour. As a matter of fact, I was sure something else entirely had hit me, and whoever was still holding me.

The arms around me loosened up and the person who was obviously my savior pulled themselves off of me, checking me for any major injuries. The world was spinning a bit as I tried to sit up and a gentle hand on by back helped me sit up properly. God that hurt. It felt like fire as whoever was next to me touched me. "Hey, take it easy, you just almost got killed," the very voice I had just spent all day dreaming shocked me out of my stupor. I looked up quickly, my forehead brushing his nose before getting dizzy again. Even with the injury, I was hyper-aware of who had just saved me.

"L-Lucia?" I stuttered out. I couldn't believe I had just been saved by the very person that I had always considered an enemy. My world was already shaken by why I was assuming was a concussion, just from having had concussions in the past. There was someone else behind him, though they were much blurrier than he was.

"Oh my god, oh my god! Are you okay?" she was panicking, looking like she was about to have a heart attack. I saw Lucia look up at her and nod, she rushed off, I assumed to check and see if anyone had called 911. I didn't need 911. I just needed to walk it off. I had sustained worse from my adventures as a kid. This was easy, right? Not really. Damn I was really dizzy.

"You should lay back down, Haru," I flinched at his use of my given name. The last time he had used it, he was just about ready to kill me and the name had sounded like an insult on his tongue. He sounded concerned though, but I thought that was just because I had hit my head a little bit and was imagining things. He pushed me back down carefully, his other hand supporting my head so I didn't hit it again.

"Why are you doing this?" I asked, just out of morbid curiosity. I didn't really want to die, of course, but I was very confused at the time. I suppose I could have figured out the answer myself, but it didn't seem fair to assume. Assuming tends to get me in trouble. Plus my head hurt too much for me to really bother thinking.

"How the hell am I supposed to get a grade for the Psychology if my partner's dead? I'll have to remember to put this down. 'Walks out in front of speeding cars as pastime,'" he tried to joke, though it didn't come out as sarcastically as I figured it was supposed to. I couldn't tell what it was in his voice; worry? Pain? I heard an ambulance approaching quickly, and it hurt my ears a bit. There were only two things I knew for a fact, and they were things that repeated themselves in my head on my long ride to the hospital in the ambulance I clearly remember asking someone not to call. I was glad to be perfectly alive, with only minor injuries, and I now officially owed my life to Lucia. What I didn't know was how I was going to manage to pay him back. How do you pay back a life debt for someone you could barely stand in a room with for more than a few minutes? I wasn't sure anymore.


	3. Ch3 :: A Real Beginning

Partners

Acoustic Memory

Disclaimer : I neither own nor make money off of any of my content. All characters, brands, and or miscellaneous products are copyright of their rightful owners. I only write for your entertainment.

AN: Originally this was my longest chapter as it was, so not much is changed in here except for some details. After this I believe I have a BRAND NEW chapter coming out that goes between this and the current fourth chapter!

Prev. Chapter Word Count: 5,085

New Chapter Word Count: 6,554

Chapter 3 :: A Real Beginning

I only had to spend one night in the hospital, mostly just to make sure I didn't have a serious concussion or any serious brain damage. Most of my injuries were bruises and a few scrapes, and my concussion was light enough that they weren't too worried about me. I wish I could say that it was at least quiet, but someone called my sister, of course. Elie and Catt freaked out over me until the nurses ushered them away saying that I needed my rest. A few other friends came through, including Musica to check up and see if I needed a ride home in the morning. I told him I'd let him now and tried to shoo him away as well. I wasn't concerned about them. I just wanted to know what had happened to Lucia. I wanted to see his face, to get a few necessary answers out of him, to know if he got hurt trying to save me. I felt like a weakling for needing to be saved anyways. I should have been paying attention. I wanted to blame it on him for distracting me, but he didn't know about my feelings and thoughts for him and I didn't want him to know about any of them. It was better that way. I just wished I knew the real reason he had saved me. Sieg would have just gave him a new partner if I was dead.

I got my wish about ten minutes after visiting hours were done; he popped his head in the room, his body following when he saw me sitting up and awake. He didn't seem as confident and cool as he usually was, and that itself said something about his day. He had a bandaid on his face and a few bruises were visible under his t-shirt. Other than that he seemed physically all right.

"Hey… I just wanted to check and see what brain damage hitting your head on the sidewalk caused," he gave me a half-smile. It registered almost immediately that there was no arrogance in his smile, nor was there any sarcasm in his voice. He sounded more worried that he really had any right to be, if we were being sensible. However after the day I had had, I really didn't care about being sensible. "So, are you okay?"

I would have liked to smile and crack a joke, but instead I murmured: "I'll live, but I wouldn't have if you hadn't saved me…" It was very true, something that the nurses had said. With as fast as the lady was going at the time, the car would have thrown me far enough to kill me. He sat down next to my bed and I stared at fidgeting hands in my lap. He made me uncomfortable being so close and I realized something; without the animosity between us, we were just two shy boys with nothing much to say to each other. Maybe without the competition we would have been friends? The thought intrigued me. "I guess what I'm trying to say is thanks…"

"Welcome," he shrugged, staring at the wall. We sat in silence for a few minutes before I finally thought of something to say.

"Why did you bother to push me out of the way? You could have been killed!" I figured it was for some superficial reason, but I had to know. It wasn't like he was the Superman-type, so I was sure he wouldn't have just done it for the good of the people or anything. The curiosity had been driving me crazy since he made that smart-ass remark about Psychology class. I knew it wasn't the real reason, though it easily could have been. I was starting to think he wasn't as self-centered as I always believed.

Lucia thought for a moment before replying carefully, "I guess it was just a natural reaction, for the most part…" he crossed his arms and looked up at the ceiling. He paused for a moment, weighing his reply. "I was leaving work early, and I saw the car coming at you. Next thing I knew, I was tackling you out of the out of the way without any concern for my own life. Not really sure why. Not really sure I would have done it for anyone else though."

I smiled slightly. "I guess you're not as big of an asshole as everyone thinks," I told him. A mock horrified look crossed his face. I couldn't help but chuckle. This felt almost normal, like any interaction I would have had with Musica or Let. It was nice for once not to be trying to tear each other's throats out.

"Damn, I guess my reputation has been completely shattered!" he muttered with a smile, standing up. A nervous look flitted across his face before that smug grin suddenly came back. "Hey, look at it this way; if you die I'll have no one worthy to compete against!"

I just watched him as he left, my mouth hanging open slightly. I was a little stunned by his smile. It was genuine, and on him, nothing short of beautiful. It took me another fifteen minutes to register his parting words. He had called me worthy to compete against, and for some reason that made me sit up a little straighter. It meant that he actually saw me as someone who was good competition, someone who made his life a little more interesting. He had never made it seem that way before. I had always thought I was unworthy to compete against him, especially in the academic department. Then again few others could even come close to either of us because we fought so hard against each other. Him thinking I was worthy, meant that even he thought I had the potential to beat him at something someday.

I didn't sleep much that night with all that weighing on my mind, not to mention where my mind kept wandering, attempting to find some hidden meaning in his words. I didn't really toss and turn, I just stared at the ceiling dreamily, refusing the nurse when she offered me something to help me sleep. It wasn't like I was traumatized, and I really didn't want to know what was waiting for me in my dreams. I already knew who they would be based around, and I much rather have control over any dream that included him. I had too much experience from early high school years of uncontrolled dreams of him. The results… well… It wasn't like they hadn't been pretty or anything, but I was very moody for a good two or three months from not getting a good night's sleep.

They released me the next morning with nothing much to say other than to be careful, and a bunch of other things that I, being a normal guy, didn't listen to. I knew I was fine, and it wasn't like I was actually worried. I was determined to watch where I was going for the rest of my life, and even more determined not to daydream about Lucia anymore. However, like I said, this wasn't my first concussion, or injury in general, and I knew I just needed to go home and rest before my classes started. I decided to walk home, even though it was going to be a good three-mile-long walk. I didn't feel like calling anyone to pick me up. While Musica had offered to pick me up in the morning, it wasn't even noon yet and on a good day after a date he didn't get up before 2. I wasn't willing to deal with Catt, and I knew any conversation with her would return to the wedding… and Elie… well she wasn't a person I ever wanted to have driving me home.

Everyone seemed to be out and about today, which was weird for a Tuesday; normally everyone was at work or school. I sighed, not wanting to delve too deep into it, in case I almost got hit by another car. I took special care to stand and look both ways every time I went to cross a road. After a while I started to feel almost paranoid, and it was at that point I just glanced and hurried across the street like I always did. I guess there is such a thing as being too careful. I didn't want to end up being a paranoid freak about it.

I sat down on a bench after about half a mile, which my head knew was not a lot, but my head thought it was taking far too long to get to my destination. I was tired, which could probably be explained by the fact I hadn't slept well that night and I still had to eat. Trust me, hospital food is not the greatest thing in existence, and I tried to avoid eating it if at all possible. I looked up at the clear blue sky. It may have been the middle of autumn, when the air started to get as cold as it ever would and the leaves started to fall from lack of water, however it was a beautiful day out. Of course, the area around the city was pretty much desert and we never really saw any snow. Normally at this time of year it was just cloudy and got a little chillier, and by next week we would start getting enough rain to bring everything back to life.

After a few minutes I stood back up and continued on my way home, though I went at a slower pace, just enjoying the day in general. "You know, there's such a thing called public transportation. It's probably easier than walking all the way from the hospital to your apartment," the very person that had haunted my every thought since last night fell into step with me. I glanced over at Lucia.

"Are you stalking me now or something?" I asked jokingly, a small grin on my face. Some part, deep down inside of me, was actually happy to see him. How had so much changed in a little over 24 simple hours? Oh, that's right… he saved my ass from being flatted by someone's shiny red car.

"Nah, I just saw you walking down the street and I figured I'd stop and ask you if you needed a ride… You live on the other side of town don't you?" Lucia pointed his thumb at a black Porsche with a dragon decal on the side. It was a beautiful car, that was for sure.

"A few blocks away from the university, actually," I inwardly damned myself from giving him that information. He'd probably use it to his advantage somehow, and that worried a small part of me. I owed him my life after all, though I was sincerely hoping he wouldn't think about that until… well… the end of time, maybe?

"Well, do you want a ride, then?" he raised his eyebrow, watching me eye up his car like any other red-blooded male would. I never felt the need for a car; my workplace and the university were both close by, and even if I did need a ride, Musica normally could drive me. In other words, I didn't have the money to buy a car because I was too busy paying for bills and food. That's the main reason I had him move in, because then we could share responsibility, and a car. I looked at Lucia for a moment.

"I really don't want to be a bother-"

"I'm on my way to work anyways… I work right across from the school, and I'm sure you can manage the few blocks from there if you're really determined not to make me go out of my way," he cut me off with a look that didn't really allow room for a 'no'. I sighed and nodded, following him back to the car. The leather seats were soft and comfortable beyond belief, and the interior of the car was just as black as the exterior. Lucia grinned as he got into the driver's seat. "I spent just about my entire life savings on this thing. I works good and I haven't had any problems the year and a half that I've had it, so I guess it was worth it," he said, turning the key in the ignition.

"It's definitely nicer than most of the cars I've been in… My sister's is a piece of junk that you couldn't pay me to drive. Musica's is nice and reliable, but he freaks if there's even a fingerprint on the dashboard. And I'm still not sure how Elie's survives her driving it," I said, shaking my head. Like I said, she's not exactly the person I want driving me home. She pays more attention to her hair and gabbing with people in the car with her than actually watching where she was going.

Lucia chuckled. "Why do you date her anyways? I mean, don't get me wrong, she's a good-looking girl, but she doesn't really seem to care much about you," he asked, glancing at me as the car lurched away from the curb and onto the road. I sighed, this not being a subject I thought I'd be discussing with him of all people.

I shrugged. "Honestly, there are many times I wonder about that myself… There are times when it's so awkward to be around her, and there are other times when she can actually be fun and lovable," I replied. It was true after all; originally I was just using her to shake off the gay rumors about me, but I had gotten used to us being a couple. I figured that eventually we'd figure things out and it would work. "She's crazy and unpredictable, but she's always been a good friend, so I guess she was the only real choice at the time. Every other girl in school thought I was gay."

"Hmph," was the reply I received from the blond. I glanced over at him, then turned to look out the window. It was strange how comfortable it felt talking to him, almost like we had been friends forever. Maybe because we had been rivals for so long, I sort of figured he could relate in some way. I wasn't really sure what the reasoning was, but I wasn't going to complain about it. Sure, I could easily talk to Musica or Let, but neither of them could relate as well; Musica normally switched from girl to girl on his own accord and Let had been with Julia since the beginning of time. Or so the story went.

"Personally, I don't think high school should account for much of anything… I only dated one girl during freshmen year and then broke up with her because she was as annoying as fuck, yet I was never called gay," he said with a shrug, not seeming to really care much. "Yet any other guy who didn't date a girl or only dated one girl for whatever reason was automatically labeled a faggot… It kind of made me sick."

I nodded, having a hard time believing that I was agreeing with him on everything. The day was just getting stranger and stranger, yet I found I didn't mind too much at all. "Yeah, but I guess people were just kind of afraid of you," I said, looking at him. "You never were the friendliest bastard in the bunch, not to mention you probably could have ripped most people's heads off. It scared everyone so they didn't mess with you."

"You never seemed afraid of me," he murmured, sounding almost appreciative of it. I shrugged and watched the university come into view.

"Why should I be afraid of you? We're like, blood rivals or something like that. You were better than me at a lot of things, but I beat you at just as many… I guess I felt like I kind of understood you in some weird, screwed up way," I replied, looking back at him. "You were always so dark and quiet, though you were MVP of the Year in football, and one of the best looking guys in school… Every girl would probably have been swooning at your feet if you didn't glare at them every time they came near you. I had lots of friends and I liked it that way. We had a lot in common, yet we were like dark and light when it came to stuff like that. I liked having that there. Plus, it gave me someone to blame random crap on."

He chuckled, shaking his head. "I never had the energy to go through the whole dating process… and the one person I was interested in would never have given me a second glance if I had ever bothered to confess," he shrugged, putting the car in park in the parking lot of one of the area's quieter cafes. It would be a short jaunt to the apartment, which would be nice. My mind was buzzing with questions on things Lucia had said, and I was hoping the fresh air would clear my head. "Well, we're here, unless you want a ride all the way to your apartment?"

"No, thanks for the offer though," I said, getting out of the car and stretching. Lucia turned off the car and got out as well, staring at me for a minute, before turning his head to look at the cream-colored wall of the building. I smiled. "Oh, hey, about getting together for that project… I'm pretty much open except for tonight, Friday night and most of next week… Thursday sound good?"

He thought for a minute, before nodding. "Sure, I don't have any Thursday classes, so we can get together any time, anywhere," he said, tilting his head. "We can figure out specifics during class… I think he said he would give us the last half of class to work on the surveys and the subjects we might want to do…"

I grinned a little more and nodded at him. "'Kay, sounds good to me! See you in class then?" I shoved my hands back into my sweater pocket.

"If you don't get hit by any cars before then," he waved as he walked into the restaurant. I stuck out my tongue at his back, heading toward home. I was going to eat and take a nap as soon as I got into the apartment. Sad as it sounded, that was my current goal in life.

I was glad there was cold pizza left in the refrigerator from the other night, because I couldn't cook worth a damn and I really didn't feel like throwing anything in the microwave. I grabbed my food and my Coke and headed back to my bedroom. It was quiet, and from the looks of things Musica wasn't even home, which I was honestly glad for. The quicker I got to take my nap, the soon I would get up, shower and head off to my classes.

I was surprised by how hungry I was after I ate my pizza, but I grabbed out clothes that I could put on later when I woke up and laid down on my soft bed. I could always eat later on my way to school. I cursed myself for not letting the nurse give me those sleeping pills now; the moment my head touched the pillow I could feel my eyes closing, almost of their own accords. My first dreams were quiet and normal; a weird dream about Catt's wedding turning out to be a disaster and that Shuda was really a mass murderer out to kill us all (which was a frequent dream and one of the reason I hated having him around), another dream about me and Elie and one of our failed attempts to have sex. It wasn't something I was ready to do yet with her, and I had carefully explained that to her, but she still seemed upset when I'd push her away and try to make my point again.

Then my mind started wandering. The next thing I knew, I was running my hands through Lucia's hair and his mouth was trailing kisses along my inner thigh. It was definitely one of my more erotic dreams. His lips grazed along my stomach and legs, teasing and yet completely avoiding the one place I wanted him to touch most. His hair was disheveled and tiny rivers of sweat ran down his body onto mine as he positioned himself above me. In my dreams I was never afraid of being with Lucia, it seemed so natural.

I started awake, looking around. The room was empty, and it was almost four o'clock. I ran to the shower, turning it as cold as I could stand it, trying to wash up and calm my body down after that dream. I knew I was going to be late for class, and I really couldn't afford it. I ran back to my room, still attempting to dry off and pull on my only clean pair of boxers. I was frustrated when I almost fell over and then realized I had both of my legs in one leg of my baggy cargo pants. "Dammit! How could I oversleep like that?" I murmured as I shook the water from my hair and pulled on my favorite black t-shirt. Somehow, I was always late for every class. Today was no exception. I grabbed another Coke as I zipped my pants up and headed out the door. Elie had volunteered to take my book bag the night before from the hospital, and I was really thankful for that. At least Psychology was my only class tonight, and I got to see Lucia again. Somehow, that brightened my outlook on the class by a shade or two.

Despite waking up late and getting ready in such a hurry, I managed to make it to class with a few minutes to spare. Elie greeted me cheerfully while she chatted with her partner about different things on the survey. I sat down in my seat, grabbing my backpack from under Elie's desk and rummaging through it for a notebook and pen. I knew I was going to have to take notes, as much as I hated to have to. I normally just doodled on my paper or something, I wasn't big on note taking. No matter how hard I studied notes I never remembered enough to really help when a test came. I was better at just going over chapters then taking the test.

Normally I wouldn't have noticed people walking in or out of the room, but I was aware of every person that walked through the door, mostly because I was waiting for Lucia. I tried not to be too obvious about it though; it would be awkward explaining it to Elie. He was one of the last ones to enter, taking his place at his desk without even looking at me. He wouldn't want to ruin his image by suddenly paying attention to the one person in the world he's supposed to hate most.

It was a dull day, Sieg pretty much reading out of the text book, though I couldn't have told you what about for the life of me. I drifted in and out of my dream world, trying to avoid the visions of Lucia that I had had earlier and focusing more on the upcoming wedding.

If it weren't for the fact that my sister would kill me, I probably wouldn't be in the wedding party. I didn't like Shuda much, as I mentioned before, and I honestly didn't think he was good enough for my sister. Then again, I didn't think any guy was good enough for Catt; she was sweet and honest, not to mention hard-working and stubborn as a mule. After our mom had died from cancer, she pretty much took care of me. Dad had taken to traveling around the world, though he never actually came back home. It was like he wanted to avoid the house where he had lost his only love. We had gotten used to him never being around, and I wondered if he would even bother to be there for his only daughter's wedding.

"Okay, everyone. Get together with your partners for the last fifteen minutes and try to get as much of this done as you can!" Sieg's voice broke through my train of thoughts. I sighed, as Elie waved to me with a pitying look on her face. Lucia sat down in the chair she had just occupied, setting down to sheets of paper with multiple questions on it. I still really didn't want to do this project, even though Lucia and I seemed to be getting along versus our norm. I was never a project type of person anyways.

"Wow… that's a lot of questions we have to answer…" I murmured out of the blue, looking at the three pages of questions we had to fill out. That was three pages front and back side by the way, roughly one hundred questions at a glance. Why couldn't it be simple? You know, twenty questions then you're done. As much as I wanted to get to know Lucia, I felt if we had to spend this much time together it meant something bad was going to happen. I had to admit I was just a bit nervous, and when I got nervous I stuttered and rambled and made a fool out of myself. I didn't want to break the delicate rope that was tying us together right now.

I guess I should admit that I had always wanted to be friends with Lucia. Stories I had heard of our dads when they were younger painted them as getting along gloriously. Unfortunately they had two very different upbringings and two very different views on how a business should be run, and it lead to inner fighting and eventually hatred. Yes, Lucia had always been an asshole up until that point, but that was partly in the way he was raised. I was lucky enough to have good values instilled within me by my older sister. Now I was realizing that Lucia wasn't a bad person though; he was just overly defensive. I almost felt bad for hating him so much in high school. A little part of me still was angry at him.

"We're supposed to fill them out about each other either asking the questions directly or just off of observation," Lucia replied, pointing to the directions at the top of the first page. I sighed; I could have read that, but then again I probably wouldn't have. Elie usually read that stuff to me. I had grown way too lazy with my projects over the years, and I was starting to realize that. "So. Question one. What's you're name?"

"Haha, funny dumb-ass…" I glared at him, scrawling his name on the line that his name was supposed to go on. Was I really expecting him to be any less annoying than he ever was? He wasn't going to change completely just because we had a level of understanding, after all. Besides, he and I both knew people were already looking at us funny since there were no weapons pulled out or screaming matches happening. I think we were scaring some of our classmates. From the corner of my eye I saw Elie checking up on us every two or three minutes.

"Male or Female?" his eyes twinkled with amusement. I gave him a nice view of my middle finger and marked down Female for him, just to piss him off. He gave me an evil grin: "You want to confirm that?"

I shook my head, feeling the blush creep onto my face. Half of my mind was shocked that he suggested it, and the other half was screaming 'yes please!' Damn it Lucia! "No thank you, I'm sure none of our classmates would be too happy if you took your pants off… Most of us might be scarred for life," I replied, shaking my head again. I was glad that almost no one was watching us bicker back and forth like this. It almost made us seem like friends, and honestly it almost felt like it as well. The few who too notice were the type of people to assume we were actually arguing, and that was fine with me. I agreed with Lucia on the image issue, at least right now.

"Okay, favorite color? Mine just happens to be blue, for future reference," he said, looking up at me as I wrote it down. This might be easier than I thought, at least the getting information out of him part of it. "I like silver… I sort of matches my hair," I scratched my head with a shrug. "Actually, no, it's black. I've always liked black. Except for when it's ninety degrees out with a burning sun, then black isn't so friendly."

A couple of answers earned snickers out of both parties, and a few answers through me off guard. He was actually being honest with me and trying not to be an asshole. It was pretty nice. We continued on like this for a few minutes until the question that had been buzzing in my mind since we had parted ways earlier in that day threatened to burst out of my mouth. Class had just been dismissed and I had waited long enough to ask. Everyone was getting up to leave the room when I told him, "Hey, I have a question for you…"

He looked up, grabbing his bag and the survey had had been filling out about me. "Yeah?" he said, looking at me curiously as he slung his bag over his shoulder. I willed my courage up a bit. This was the type of question I wouldn't normally ask of anyone, especially someone I was just actually meeting. However something was nagging at the back of my mind and I couldn't shake it; I was curious, but I was worried he would see it as trying to pry into his life or something. I hated when people did that to me, though more often then not I found myself spilling the information out anyways.

"Earlier, in the car… You said that the person you liked wouldn't have even given you a second glance even if you had confessed… I mean, it's not like there was a girl in school that would have taken the chance to be with you… Why-"

"Because it wasn't a girl…" he cut me off quietly, looking around as the last couple people left the room. He seemed a bit nervous about something, which I felt was totally un-Lucia-like. He was always so confident in everything he did. "I don't exactly go for girls, Haru."

I felt my eyes widen a bit and my jaw drop even more; that hadn't been the answer I was expecting at all. I was expecting him to name off some hot chick teacher or someone as close to out of his league as he could get. No one was really out of his league though; I had been hearing girls talking about sneaking into the boy's locker room for years to get a peek. Lucia was staring at his feet, and I knew he had never admitted that to anyone before. I felt bad for asking now. I didn't want to put any unnessecary tension on this semi-friendship. "Sorry, I guess that would surprise anyone… I can go tell the instructor that you want a different partner if it creeps you out… Sorry…" he turned to walk away, muttering something that I couldn't comprehend. It was almost like a dream come true to me; all of my dreams and fantasies weren't completely unrealistic, even though chances were I wasn't the guy he wanted and I still had a girlfriend to take consideration of. I ran after him as he left the room, only stopping to grab my book bag. I needed to stop him from walking away before I lost him completely.

"Hey, wait, Lucia!" I grabbed his arm pulling him toward a rarely used hallway. There were a few of those in the school where classrooms didn't really get used down that wing during the day and you could easily have a private conversation. I didn't want to lose probably the only chance I'd have at ever getting to know him, especially since we already made it to this point without really trying. Being with him was easy; talking to him seemed so natural. I felt like something could come of this, even though I didn't know what and I didn't exactly know what I wanted from this. "No, really, it's fine… I don't need a change of partners."

An eyebrow raised as he considered my face for signs of honestly. If I didn't know better I would have swore he had never trusted another soul with this secret before… or any secret for that matter of fact. Didn't he have any friends at all? I didn't think he was that much of a social outcast... However I knew this had now become a very delicate situation and I had to play my cards right or risk losing everything I had built up in the last two days. "But your face back there in the classroom said otherwise…" he said quietly, tilting his head again. He looked so much like a kitten when he did that.

"I was just, really, really surprised is all… I never expected you of all people to be… Honestly it's not that bad!" I said, knowing that if I didn't stop talking now I'd end up rambling like an old fool. It was a bad habit of mine.

"But why aren't you, like, freaking out? I mean doesn't it creep you out knowing your partner's gay? That the guy you've basically been fighting since high school likes other guys?"

"Not really… I'm not exactly straight myself…" I said with a smile. It was true. I was technically attracted to guys, but really only one guy. "Those rumors about me being gay, back in high school… Well, they were partially right. I never dated any guys or anything like that, and I'm attracted to girls as well, but I wanted to shake the rumors completely because I was getting sick of them. So I dated Elie. Guess I was kinda using her back then. I-I mean she's a great girl and all and I really like her. She doesn't know about this."

He nodded, shock clouding his eyes for a moment. "Wow… I never would have guessed, really…" he said, his surprised look turning into a small smile. "Well… I guess this kind of changes everything, doesn't it?"

I shrugged. "I don't really see how, other than we know something about each other that nobody else knows. This information is strictly classified by the way! There is no way in hell Elie or anyone else can find out about it! Mostly because they'd go tell my sister and she'd freak out thinking I need mental help or something," I said, waving my hands in the air to specify the type of freaking out she'd most likely do. Did I ever mention my sister could be violent? I think I did. Her version of getting things through my thick skull was actually beating it through me...

He chuckled, nodding his agreement. We were both in a similar boat now, and that basically cemented us together as friends, if not just two guys that could actually tolerate each other as long as we weren't trying to save face in front of everyone. "I completely agree with you on that… So are we still going to be meeting on Thursday then?" he asked, looking a little more comfortable than he had in a while. Usually he seemed as if he was going to strike at any moment, but right now he seemed to not be poised for attack, at least with me. I felt like I had gotten something off my chest that I had needed to for awhile now. It felt good, I felt relieved, and I hoped this was leading somewhere good. At the time, a relationship hadn't crossed my mind yet. I just wanted to try and be his friend.

"Sure, that's fine with me… You can always come over to my apartment so we can work… I have class until one, we can get together after that…" I replied, trying to remember my class order for that day. My schedule was a bit off with being in business classes and having three different class hours for Psychology. All I knew was Thursday was my day off from work.

"I actually have to work until five that day… I can be over at, like, six or something like that… if it works for you, of course," his eyes were wandering over to the main hall, as if he was watching to see if we were being watched. I felt myself doing the same thing. It wasn't normal for two well-known rivals to be talking in the hallway without fists being involved after all, and it could draw a crowd very quickly at the promise of a fight.

"Yeah, that works better, just give me a call and I can give you directions?" I wrote down my phone number on a scrap sheet of paper and handed it to him. He nodded and waved. God… I had just given the guy that had been my enemy just four days ago my phone number. That was a MAJOR break through right there. My day was just full of Lucia-related firsts wasn't it?

"I have to get going to my next class… I'll see you Thursday, if not before then," he said, rushing toward the crowd and blending in without another goodbye. I was sort of disappointed. I would have loved to have talked a little more with him. I knew I'd have plenty of time for that with this project though. How was I supposed to feel about this? Most guys would be indifferent, but I felt hopeful for once. I wasn't sure where this was heading but I was positive about one thing:

I was going to have one hell of a dream tonight…


	4. Ch4 :: Kiss

Partners

Acoustic Memory

Disclaimer : I neither own nor make money off of any of my content. All characters, brands, and or miscellaneous products are copyright of their rightful owners. I only write for your entertainment.

AN: This seems to be working out pretty well so far! Look forward to the next chapter being the new one!

Prev. Chapter Word Count: 1,310

New Chapter Word Count: 2,377

Chapter 4 :: Kiss

It was mind boggling how much my mindset on life changed after Lucia's revelation. I honestly wasn't so afraid of people finding out I liked guys anymore. His confession made me feel less alone in the world; he was the first person I had ever known that wasn't straight. I didn't have any gay friends besides him, now, and I had never had the confidence to actively seek them out. It wasn't that I was closed minded about having different types of friends, I just wasn't even sure where to start. My mind kept mulling over this fact the rest of the week and by Thursday morning I was actually anticipating his call. I wanted to get to know him better now, see what else I could uncover about him. It's safe to say I couldn't keep my mind out of the gutter for very long whenever I started to think about him. I didn't have much luck sleeping on Tuesday or Wednesday night, and my right hand was officially my new best friend, if you know what I mean.

When my cell phone rang around 5:30, I had been pacing back and forth for a good hour waiting for his phone call. I was glad that Musica had left to go camping with his grandpa for the weekend and wasn't coming back that night. I hated the thought of how many questions he would have been asking, especially if I would have had to resort to asking him to leave. He didn't like being told to leave when he didn't want to leave. I didn't blame him, he would have just been a concerned friend wondering why I was pacing myself to death.

I answered my phone almost as soon as my ringtone went off, partially because I absolutely hate my ringtone; Catt had picked it out for me when teaching me how to use it. I never had had much interest in high-tech things, and this cell phone was one of them. Most days I barely got through my homework when a computer was required. I only had a cell phone because it was the only way for work or my sister to get a hold of me if I wasn't home. "Hello?" I already knew who it would be, but it would have been weird for him to know how long I had been waiting for him. I didn't want to give myself away so quickly.

"Hey, I'm just leaving the restaurant now…. How do I get to your place from here?" I heard the purr of his engine as it started up and began to give him directions. It didn't take long before I saw his car cruising slowly down the street and stopping in front of my building. He looked amusing in his dirty work uniform with his hair tied back. That was the most I had ever seen of his face before. Our greeting was a quick affair, and I let him change in the bathroom so he could be comfortable while we worked. It had been two days since our 'Confession of Unheterosexuality" as we later came to call it. I knew it it was on my mind constantly, and I felt like it was on his mind too, just by the way he looked at me differently. I was no longer an enemy to him, but a comrade of sorts.

I have him a quick tour of the apartment after he changed and pulled out some snacks for us. I knew he had to be hungry after working around food all day and not being able to eat it. Finally after nearly half an hour of that we both sat down, each with a Coke, and got working. We were pretty far behind everyone else, mostly because of Monday's near-accident. We were hoping to get it done long before the deadline. We both needed to finish this class with a good grade.

The first 30 questions were simple; favorite food, favorite band, miscellaneous things like that. Things that everyone knew but hardly cared about. I still got some surprising answers from him; I never figured him for having a sweet tooth, but his favorite foods all consisted of cookies and candies. He liked classic rock, not then new crap that all sounded the same. He wanted to finish college with a 4.0 GPA, and go on to medical school to become a doctor. Nothing about him was what I thought it would be. After those questions, they became more complicated and we had to actually think before we gave our answer.

"When was the first time you remember seeing your partner, aka, me?" Lucia looked at me, genuinely curious to learn the answer to the last question we were required to answer. Most of the last ten questions required an essay-like response.

"It was at that wedding… We were, what, five, I believe?" I thought for a moment, a small smile on my face. It was amazing how quickly things had changed behind us, and it was almost odd to reminisce about this with him. "I absolutely hated you back then. You have this annoying smirk and you used really big words…"

He laughed. "Yeah, I remember that. I think I used big words just to watch the confused look on all the other kids' faces. Especially yours. But you tried to tackle me and beat the shit out of me, if I remembered correctly," he smiled at the ceiling. He had made himself quite comfortable on the couch, leaning back and recalling the event himself."Even back then we were fairly even, and I don't think either of us were winning… Your dad pulled you off of me and our dads started freaking out at each other. Then they started fighting as well. I think your dad was winning when they finally got the two of them apart."

I nodded. My dad was strong back then. That was back before my mom had died and he had left us. Back then I was convinced he could easily win any fight, no matter who it was up against."After that I didn't see you until Freshmen year… but I remembered you and I still wanted to kick the shit out of you," I grinned, tilting my head a bit. "Of course then I started fantasizing about you and things just got weird then."

I felt all of the heat flood to my face when I realized I had said that out loud. Lucia chuckled, looking down at me. I had chosen to sit on the floor. I hate all of the furniture; it was all old and uncomfortable except for one of those nest-like chairs that Catt had given to me when I moved out. It was the best I could do though, and more often than not I just sat on the floor when there was company over. "Yeah, I never really hated you, but I thought you'd make a good challenge. After, even to this day you're the only one who's ever really dared to challenge me in anything! But the fantasizing did make things complicated…"

I looked up at him, suddenly realizing how close he was to me. We were only about an inch apart and I was anticipating what he was going to do with that distance. I wanted him so badly in that moment, and I hoped that he wasn't just messing with me. Those were words I had been wanting to hear for years… The next thing I knew, he was kissing me. It wasn't a passionate or forceful kiss; it was light and only lasted a few seconds before he pulled away and took a deep breath. His breath smelled like Coke and cinnamon graham crackers. I looked deep into his golden eyes, wondering where that had suddenly come from and hoping very much that it was an honest kiss. He was still leaning too close to me and I used that to my advantage.

My lips met his without hesitation, and I lost all of my common sense. The kiss was very different from the first; it was greedy and demanding. His lips were so soft and moist, and he pulled me closer, getting on the floor with me. It was better than any kiss I had previously experienced, so much better. No kiss had ever made me forget to think like this one did. I wanted it to last forever.

My hands entwined in his blond hair as he lay me down on the carpet, hovering above me and deepening our kiss. I knew this was wrong on so many levels; we were both guys, our fathers hated each other, there were so many reasons for me to push him away. Instead I broke for a quick breath and then dived back in for more. It was better than all the fantasies I had ever had about him; no amount of dream sex and kisses could amount to the real thing. His mouth tasted so wonderful and odd at the same time, mostly from the various snacks we had eaten, but with a hint of spearmint gum he had been chewing on earlier. I had never tasted anything like it before.

I felt his hand slowly crawl up my stomach to my chest, and involuntarily I let out a soft moan of longing. I wanted this so badly, all of it. I had never noticed how large and calloused his hands were before, and had never thought him to be so gentle and caring. I honestly had been expecting rougher treatment than what he was giving me. I obviously wasn't complaining, though. Maybe he was just trying not to scare me? It didn't matter. All I knew was I never wanted it to stop!

Through out all of it something was tugging at the back of my mind, though it was unclear at first. I tried so hard to push it away from the back of my mind, to focus on the now… Then I saw Elie's face and remembered that I was someone's boyfriend. I accounted for already, and it wasn't fair for me to just cheat on her like this, no matter how badly I wanted him. I pushed at his chest, signaling for him to stop. It took him a moment to get the hint, but slowly he pulled away, panting.

He looked at me, concern and caution clouding his eyes, overriding the lust and raw need that was there previously. "Did I-"

I shook my head before he could finish. I didn't want him to blame himself for something he had no control over him. "It's not your fault, Lucia… It's just…"

"Elie?"

I sighed softly as we both sat up and straighten ourselves out. "She's still my girlfriend, not matter how much I want someone else, especially you," I replied, watching him stand up and walk over to his backpack. I felt like I just shot down my only chance with him, but I also knew that it was necessary for my conscious to stay in tact. Still, watching him leave hurt a bit.

"I-I should probably be going… Since we're done and all," he said, running a hand through his disheveled blond locks.

"Yeah… Um, I can go turn it in tomorrow after work?" I offered, grabbing both packets of questions. He nodded, not really seeming to know what else to do.

"Just call me when you find out what the next part of the project is," he stopped at the door. I looked up at him just as he looked back at me. He seemed to be mulling something over, just staring at me with a knowing look in his eyes. Eventually it turned into resolve.

"What is it?"

"You," he said quietly, though that one simple word echoed throughout the room with such clarity and intensity that he could have easily screamed it. I knew exactly what he meant, it needed no explanation. That didn't stop him from giving one though."It was always you. I wanted you more than anything, but I figured you would flat-out refuse me and then go gossiping to all your friends. I never wanted to risk that. So I turned it into anger and rage and hoped it would eventually boil itself out."

"I would never have-" but his look cut me off from expressing my bit of outrage. I wasn't like that. I wouldn't have told anyone about something like that. It wasn't my place… but it would have made my high school years a lot easier for me to deal with. I wanted nothing more now than to turn back time and change everything. Maybe we would have been together sooner, even if we had to hide it.

"I know, Haru. I understand that now… Thank you for showing me that," and without another word he turned and left. I couldn't believe my ears, and my heart was fluttering at the speed of light. I was the one he had been crushing on, but never confessed to until now. He wanted me just as badly as I now wanted him. I wasn't sure where this was going to go from here… I knew one thing: there was nothing else I had every yearned for with all my body, heart and soul more than another kiss from Lucia's lips.


	5. Ch5 :: Truth

Partners

Acoustic Memory

Disclaimer : I neither own nor make money off of any of my content. All characters, brands, and or miscellaneous products are copyright of their rightful owners. I only write for your entertainment.

AN: TADA! A brand new chapter, just for you my lovelies! Feels WONDERFUL to be writing for real again! I know it's a bit short but it's not an action based chapter anyways!

Prev. Chapter Word Count: 0

New Chapter Word Count: 1,565

Chapter 5 :: Truth

I had been working for the carpentry company a friend of my dad's had started years ago since I was fourteen, mostly during summers and busy season. Sure I couldn't exactly work the 12-hour shifts they wanted me to, but they still gave me a bit of time when they were desperate for an extra pair of hands. Most often I ran the shop while the guy did work, and every Saturday I'd spend all day helping him out on projects. It was good money, but the hours I got just weren't enough to support me. However I also had another job that I worked four days a week, a job I had gotten at a bookstore next door to my apartment complex. They were only busy before and after the semester started, when kids were coming in to get their school books and reading materials for school, so during the week I only had to do a few three or four hour shifts at a time.

I was glad the day after Lucia and I's meeting I was working at the bookstore. I was so distracted; I hadn't slept well that night, if you could call what I did sleep at all. Lucia was starting to fill my every waking, and sleeping thought, and it was causing some things… I was definitely taking more cold showers than usual. I didn't think I was acting oddly though, until my boss, Mrs. Potts, said something about an hour into my shift on Friday morning.

"You seem odd today Haru… Is something bothering you, dear?" she asked as she slid books onto the proper place on the shelf. It had been an extremely slow day so far, and most of the hour had been spent stocking books, dusting shelves and counters, and mostly chatting. Mrs. Potts was a kind old lady, probably in her 70's but she had been running this bookstore since she was 20 and inherited it from her father. It was as close as she ever got to having a child, and she could no longer care for it without help. There were only two of us that worked here though, myself and another chick from school that I had only seen a few times.

I looked down at her from my perch on the ladder, dusting off the top of the shelf. "Hm? No, not really, ma'am," I tried shaking myself out of my most recent dirty thoughts. Catt always told me I wasn't a convincing liar, but I also felt like Mrs. Potts was a psychic or something. There was no way anyone could know as much as she did just based off the fact she ran a shop. The only ones that ever heard EVERYTHING in this town were the baristas at the coffee shop at the food court in the University and bartenders in a few of the quieter local bars. We didn't have that many customers here for her to have heard everything from them.

"Oh Haru. You can tell me anything and you know it! I won't tell your sister like so many other do. Is it your girlfriend? Or a new boyfriend perhaps?" she winked at me and stood there just staring up at me. Honestly it was hard to keep inside myself. I wasn't used to holding so much inside me; like my father I tended to wear my heart on my sleeve and it had always served me well. "Come down here dearie and drink some tea with me. I think I need a break from standing anyways. Old legs aren't as strong as they used to be!"

I followed her over to one of the reading tables that had a good view of the front door and counter and helped her make some tea and pull out some cookies. She always kept snacks for anyone who just wanted to come in and read a book but didn't have the money to purchase it. Honestly, when I wanted to do some real studying I came here to work. It was quieter than home and more comfortable than anywhere at school. "So, Haru, what is it that's on your mind? You're not usually this distracted when working unless something is going on," the old woman sat across from me, warming her hands on her tea and staring at me. She was the type of woman not to let something go until she had her answers.

"I have… an issue. Remember that girl Elie I'm dating?" Elie had been on my mind a lot too. I didn't just want to dump her for something I wasn't sure that was going to work out… but I couldn't be unfaithful to her either. It wasn't right, and my sister had taught me better than that. "Well… someone I had a crush on in high school recently… approached me showing returned feelings… I don't want to hurt Elie though, but I really want them. I don't know what to do. I'm not even sure Elie and I are really even working out right now. She seems so distant. We haven't even gone on a date in the past month. I know her job is rough… but I feel like she doesn't want to be seen with me in public any more, and I don't know why!"

Mrs. Potts nodded, considering my words for a moment before saying in a wise voice: "Have you ever considered just telling her about this? Haru, if you like this guy you need to tell her and break it off. If she's not interested in you, and you're not interested in her, that doesn't make for a good relationship. I was married for 53 years before my husband died, but before that I had had boyfriends too. If your heart isn't fully in it, you're not going to enjoy yourself. Do you love her?"

It was a question I had asked myself many times… and no I didn't. She was my friend, and I cared about her a lot, but I never started out loving her. I just hoped it would grow into love out of necessity. It didn't even occur to me she had guessed it was a guy and I had never even mentioned the gender of the person I liked until much later on when I got home that night. "I guess not… But I don't know what to say! What am I supposed to do… just walk up to her and say 'Sorry Elie, but I found someone else'?"

"Yes."

Things were never that simple in life. Well maybe some things were, but could I really just walk up to her and say that? Of course not. My sister always told me to be considerate of other people's feelings. I couldn't just tell Elie I found someone else without revealing who it was and why, and that was something I wasn't ready to do, even if Lucia was actually interested in starting a real relationship with me. I didn't want to jump ahead of myself and end up getting hit by a bus, and Elie's temper could definitely be a pretty big bus…

"I'm sorry but I just can't do that to her… and I don't think I'm ready to commit yet… I know how he feels about me, but I don't know how he feels about a relationship."

"You haven't discussed it yet?!" the shock on her face was visible.

"Well no… we just talked about how we crushed on each other in school yesterday… and there was a kiss… but that's not the point! This is all so new to me. I never thought he'd actually like me back… I just need to think about it more before I act on it…"

"I think you're just afraid of being alone…" Mrs. Potts stood up and set her tea cup by the sink. "You need to tell her, and you need to tell him. Maybe it really is that easy, and you're just refusing to show it. You don't need to listen to everything your sister says Haru… Every person works very differently, and maybe Elie will handle it better than you think she will… Maybe you should go home early and think on it, hm? Don't worry, I can finish the rest of what has to be done. This is important."

I wanted very much to say no, to finish my shift and not have to think any more about it for a while. It was confusing and tiring to think about so much. However I accepted her offer, and headed home. I had a project to finish rewriting anyways, and other homework to do. Maybe it'd be a better distraction for me than wiping down shelves and cataloging books was. I didn't realize I was going to have to face the truth sooner than I thought.


	6. Ch6 :: Good Enough

Partners

Acoustic Memory

Disclaimer : I neither own nor make money off of any of my content. All characters, brands, and or miscellaneous products are copyright of their rightful owners. I only write for your entertainment.

AN: So yes, I am currently reworking Partners (again) This time my plans include actually adding some extra content that wasn't there before, as well as fixing a lot of my types and grammar issues. For those fans of mine that have wanted to see more of my work, I'm sorry for taking so long getting to this point. For fans of Partners, this is for you! Also I'll be posting word counts, both the original and the reworked versions!

Prev. Chapter Word Count: 2,823

New Chapter Word Count: 4,258

Chapter 6 :: Good Enough

The next twenty-four hours were both Heaven and Hell. For one thing, I knew both Lucia and I wanted each other now, so it made my daydreams seem less inappropriate. There was still the fact that I pretty much belonged to someone else. I wasn't going to just ditch Elie for the person everyone thought I wanted to kill the most. It didn't matter now what other people thought of us, honestly. People changed their minds all the time. Maybe it was just a change of heart for us. These things could be explained away to the world, I just wasn't ready to try and explain it to Elie, or even Catt. I wasn't sure what to expect out of my sister on the issue. We had never talked about stuff like this when I was growing up.

I had promised Lucia I would turn in our surveys and find out what the next project was. He had even texted me later on that night and told me to call him and let him know as soon as I found out so we could start working on it. I had no clue to expect out of the rest of this assignment, honestly. We had already asked a bunch of questions. What more could there be to do?

I was heading to the Psychology classroom in order to turn in the first part of the project. Luckily most of Friday consisted of "office hours" for Sieg, meaning I got a chance to go do it after work, which I did. Sure there were some revisions that had been needed on spelling and things like that… but I was hoping to start on the next part of the project ASAP, mostly so I could see Lucia again. I had a ton of questions that I was just dying to ask him, and I wanted to just be around him. It felt like a good alternative to being able to _**be**_ with him.

I didn't notice anything out of place at first until I saw the door cracked open a bit. I opened the door just a bit more, enough to see if Sief was actually still inside… instead I was startled by the sounds of moaning and gasping that was coming from within. I peeked thought the crack, against my better judgment, and even though I couldn't see anything, I recognized Elie's voice saying: "Gods, you're so good at this. Haru's such a pussy that he freaks out when I even mention having sex!" Sieg chuckled and said nothing else. I popped my head in a big farther, enough to confirm what I was hearing.

My head began to buzz as I watched Sieg and Elie kiss, her bare legs wrapped tightly around his hips. It didn't take me long to realize exactly what they were doing. I didn't even notice that I had the surveys crunched up and crinkled in my hands, and it didn't even register when they fell to the floor. The blood was pounding in my ears as I watched Sieg thrust in and out of my girlfriend… No… She had no right to be called that anymore… Why would she be so cruel to me? Already my head was piecing two and two together and I knew that she hadn't skipped our dates for work, but for a booty call with Sieg Hart.

I didn't know why I felt so hurt. Wasn't this what I wanted; to be free of her so I could do things with Lucia without feeling guilty? In a way, yes I did want this. Just not in this fashion. I had held back from doing anything with Lucia because I didn't want to hurt her, yet she hadn't given me the same respect. I didn't know what to do. I sure as hell couldn't walk in there now. There was nothing I could really say or do to express my pain, especially since I knew if I was any less of the man I was I would have probably done the same with Lucia.

Tears began to blur my vision as I walked away from the scene. I just couldn't understand the why of all of it. Yes I hadn't exactly been taking care of certain needs of hers, but to cheat on me? The fact I nearly killed someone when I threw open the door that lead me outside didn't matter to me initially. I had been betrayed, and in one of the worst ways possible. The thought that I wasn't good enough for Elie burned my insides, especially knowing that I wasn't good enough to wait for. So many questions burned in my head and I wasn't sure if there were even real answers to them, or if I truly wanted the answers to them.

I hadn't worn a jacket that day, despite the forty-degree weather, and the drizzle that had been annoying us all day turned into a pouring rain that seemed to describe the way I was feeling. I had no idea where I was heading and I was beginning to feel chilled just walking around outside. I didn't have a real purpose at the moment, I just needed to work through the pain. Training had always helped with that, but I didn't have the energy to track down someone to spar with. I just wanted to be alone. I lost track of time as I wandered aimlessly around the campus, hiding my tears with the rain. I didn't know why I was actually crying; I was both angry and sad at the same time.

It took me a minute to realize someone was calling out my name. "Hey, Haru! Haru! Haru?" I felt a hand on my shoulder, turning me around to face the source of the voice. I could barely hear it through the garbled mess that my thoughts and feelings were. There was a bit of pain in my chest as I stared into golden eyes. Lucia shook me a bit. "Hey, what the hell are you doing out here? It's fucking cold, and raining to boot. You're going to catch pneumonia!"

I looked at him confusedly, then down at my feet, choosing not to reply in case my voice gave away that I was crying. I wasn't about to start crying to someone over a love that never was, and he didn't need to be burdened with my problem. He sighed. "You're not going to tell me what happened, are you?" his tone was patient as he began leading me to his car. I realized that, minus the rain and the misery I was feeling, it was almost like a repeat of Tuesday. I looked up at him sadly. I could trust him now, couldn't I? So far he had never once lied to me that week, and even thinking back to our high school years, while he had hidden his crush, he never actually lied to me about anything else. "I wasn't good enough for her…" I said the first thing that came to my mind. That's exactly what it was. My pain was coming from the fact I wasn't good enough, despite trying to be.

He whipped me around so we were nearly face-to-face. There was a fire in his eyes that scared me and comforted me all at once; I knew I could tell him everything, and I sincerely wanted to. "Who are you not good enough for?" he asked in an angry and demanding voice. I had seen his temper flare up before, but usually it was at me for beating him at something. This was a different type of rage; a sort of protective anger that made me feel like he would easily go to the end of the world to protect me. "Elie? She's a stupid slut! It's not you who's not good enough for her; she doesn't even come close to deserving you!"

All of the sudden I was wrapped in his arms, crying my eyes out and not even caring who saw or heard. I hadn't cried like that since my mom had died when I was six, and it felt good. It was more than just anger at Elie and Sieg; it was anger at myself for not seeing it sooner and for all the things I never said to Elie. I should have been more of a man, and just confronted her. Maybe I could have saved myself some heartache. He rubbed my back, 'shhing' and comforting me as best as he could. He buried his face in my hair. "You deserve so much better, Haru…"

I nodded, my face buried in his chest. It felt good to be held by someone, not just hugged but _**held**_ like I was actually loved. I hadn't been held by anyone in years. The cold was starting to sink in, and I couldn't manage to stifle my shivering. He pulled me away, opening the door to his car. "Come on, we should get you home before you get sick…" He said, forcing me into the seat. I protested, not wanting to ruin the pretty leather seats. The look he gave me put a halt to any argument I might have had. I knew it was for the best. He didn't even have to ask for any directions, which I was glad for; I wasn't even sure of my surroundings. I think I had ended up on the opposite side of campus. I was hyper-aware of him though. Every move he made, every breath he took, I could almost feel them even though I wasn't looking at him. Even when his hands shifted on the steering wheel, I knew. With all of my conflicting feelings fogging my head, this just added to my weight and I felt like even if I wanted to move, gravity was holding me to that spot firmly.

Finally, just as I thought I would explode under the tension of having him so close to me, he parked on the road in front of my building. I didn't even realize we had arrived until the ignition shut off and I looked up. I turned to thank him, but he was already walking to the other side of the car and opening up the door for me. I was more dazed than I realized. I got out, looking up at him. "I can get upstairs to my own apartment," I told him, cocking my head to the side. Honestly, I thought it would be nice to have him with me. I didn't want to be alone, but I didn't want to sound weaker than he probably already thought I was. I could already feel myself building up my defenses on why I was so supposedly heartbroken, and why I had been crying. While I wasn't exactly embarrassed about it, and I knew it was perfectly fine for a guy to cry about stuff, I had always felt that it was important to explain myself whenever I did.

"I know… I just want to make sure you're fine," he said, leading me up the stairs to the apartment. I felt like a little child who had gotten lost on a field trip and was being taken back to his parents. There was just one minor difference; no parents. Lucia offered to make me something hot while I dried off and changed. As much as I hated the stuff, I pulled out the green tea that my sister insisted I always had in stock for when she came over. She was into the healthy stuff like that, but I liked things with flavor, mostly Coke. Still I knew it was better than a soda or anything else we had in the refrigerator.

I threw on a ratty t-shirt that was two sizes too big and some pajama pants I hadn't bothered wearing since Catt had bought them for me two Christmases before. They were warm though, and I was finally thankful for the so-called 'useless present'. I made a mental note to thank her for them again, and to make sure to buy a new box of green tea. The issue with Elie was still on my mind, but for a moment I wondered if I had ever reminded Catt of how much I loved and appreciated her in the past year.

Lucia was standing in the kitchen when I walked out holding a towel in my hand. "Here, I don't have any clothes that would probably fit you, but at least you can dry off a little," I smiled for the first time that night as he traded the towel for a warm cup of tea. While I sipped from the chipped green mug that had once been my mother's, I watched him dry his hair. I imagined how fun it would have been had we just gotten out of the shower instead of out of the rain, or even if we had come out of the rain under better circumstances. Just having him here was making me feel better already. While I wasn't quite over the Elie incident, I knew I would move past this in a better way than she had. The good guy part of me was already trying to rationalize why she did what she did.

He grinned at me suddenly. "You're still staring…" he teased, making a reference to something he had said on Monday. It seemed like it had been weeks, not days, since then. So much had changed in those five days. I had come to trust him and actually care about him in such a short time. Part of me was still trying to slow myself down, but the rest of me just wanted him even more than ever.

"Sorry," I grinned back at him, shivering a little. I couldn't get rid of my chill, even after changing and with the hot tea. I knew I was going to be sick the next few days with as wet as I had gotten. Lucia took off the leather jacket I hadn't noticed he was wearing. Only his dark blue jeans had suffered any real water damage, and it was barely noticeable. I wondered if he was cold, but figured he'd mention it if he was. He always seemed to blunt of a guy to bother hiding things like that. Then again, he had hid his crush on me for so long.

Then, for a second time in less than forty-five minutes, I found myself engulfed in his strong arms again. He was warm, much warmer than I was, and I snuggled closer to him. "You're cold," he whispered idly into my hair, pulling back to get a good look at me. He still held me close enough that I could smell his breath. He always smelled so wonderful, like spearmint and usually with some other food-related thing I could never exactly pinpoint. It made sense since he worked in a kitchen. I just wish I could identify the smell. However asking him "hey, what do you smell like?" would be an awkward question, not to mention creepy.

I blushed, staring deep into his golden orbs. "You're doing a good job of warming me up," I replied, watching his eyes begin to smolder with some unspoken desire. His eyes burned right through me and lit me on fire in a way that nothing else had ever done before. I'm not talking about actual flames, but it sure felt like it at first. Jolts of warmth traveled from my chest all the way down to my nether regions. I knew what he wanted, and I knew it was also what I wanted.

"I can do better than this…"

His lips met mine urgently. I pressed up against him, wrapping my arms around his neck. He nibbled on my bottom lip, willing me to open my mouth, which I did without hesitation. I trusted him with my entire being. A startled yelp escaped my throat as he suddenly lifted me up bridal-style and carried me back to my bedroom. I was impressed that he remembered where it was. He laid me on the bed, once again devouring my mouth. I tugged on his shirt, trying to get it off with one hand. He grinned, sitting up and tossing it on the floor. I took the brief interlude to shed my own shirt. Suddenly his mouth was placing butterfly kisses down my chest.

I moaned when his mouth covered one of my nipples, sucking on it carefully until it was hard, then moving onto the next one. He seemed to know what he was doing better than I did, but I wouldn't make any complaints about it. I had never had sex before… with a guy or with anyone else. It wasn't because I didn't want to. Honestly I had tried with Elie a few times, I just could never get myself fully into it. I never understood why… maybe it was because she wasn't Lucia, and she definitely wasn't a top.

I buried my right hand in his hair. "Lucia…" I managed to gasp out, tugging his hair softly to get his attention. He looked up at me, concerned that he was doing something wrong. My heart fluttered a little knowing he actually cared about how I felt. From what I had heard about a lot of guys, they didn't. Elie sure never had whenever we actually made the attempt to do something more than kiss. I tugged at the waistband of his wet jeans. The water was being absorbed into my flannel pants, which wasn't exactly comfortable nor warm. I preferred not wearing pants at all, but this time I wanted clothes out of the way for a very different reason.

He gave me a mischievous look that had me squirming, making his way down to where he had been before. I giggled, yes, literally giggled, when he dipped his tongue into my navel. That just prompted him to repeat the action, he being the cruel man he was. This quickly turned into a mini tickle-fest that ended with us moaning and grinding against each other like two nymphomaniacs. It felt amazing. For the first time in my life I was turned on by someone actually there in front of me, touching me and loving me in ways I hadn't been before.

He lifted my hips up and discarded my pants with one hand. I watched him remove his own with lust-filled eyes. I later observed that I never figured Lucia to be the type to wear any sort of underwear, but at the time all I could do was take in the sight of his naked body. Especially certain parts… that happened to be much larger than I had imagined. I could feel my face turn red as he crawled over me, hooking his finger over the waist band of my boxers and watching me with curious eyes. I nodded, and he removed my boxers, taking in the sight of my arousal.

"Ah…" if he hadn't been holding my hips down with both hands I would have arched my back when he took my entire length in his mouth. My eyes were wide, watching his head bob up and down. I squirmed slightly, tension building up in my stomach and threatening to burst forth at any moment. "L-Lucia…"

He crawled up, placing a gentle kiss on my lips. He knew what I wanted by how I said his name, and even though I knew it, I said the words out loud, just to make them final. "T-take me… please…" I begged, my lips ghosting over his earlobe. He nodded, nuzzling my neck. I reached over to the nightstand to grab the bottle lube out of the drawer that I had kept hidden there for a while, just in case. He took it from my hand and kissed my lips, trying to distract me from him coating his fingers with it. I accidentally bit his tongue when I felt him push a finger in my hole, though he didn't seem to notice as much as I did. "Mph!"

A second finger went in, stretching me. Then a third. My eyes began to water, though he kissed away the tears the very moment he noticed them. "This will only hurt for a little while, love… you'll get used to it," he murmured, positioning himself in front of my entrance. I looked at him in slight horror, even though this was what I wanted more than anything else. How the hell was that supposed to fit in there?! I clung to his neck while he wrapped one of my legs over his hip. He nuzzled my neck and cheek, whispering soothing words to me as he slowly thrust into me.

For the first five seconds, though it felt like five hours, all I could feel was white-hot pain coursing through my body. Something was entering it that wasn't supposed to be there, and it was trying to tell me so. Lucia didn't move even the slightest muscle, giving me time to calm down and get used to him. Once I had calmed down enough so that I wasn't shaking as much, he pulled out of me slightly before thrusting back in. "Ahhhh… ahh… ahh…" my screams quickly turned into moans as he set a decent pace and began to distract me with other things. I felt his hand twisting and playing with one of my nipples and his teeth were grazing a sensitive part on my throat. I wrapped my other leg around him, giving him better access.

"See, it's not so bad," he whispered in my ear suddenly, though the words were drowned out by my pleasure as he hit a particularly sensitive spot inside me. My eyes rolled back into my head as he hit it again and again. Suddenly his hand was stroking my manhood at the same pace as his thrusting, which had increased greatly by now. I completely lost myself to all of my senses, concentrating on the lips on my throat, his hand on my cock and the part of him that was buried so deeply inside me.

"Oh… gods… Lucia," I whispered breathlessly, heat gathering down near my groin. He chuckled, moving a little faster and gripping my hip with the hand that had just been playing with my hair. "Oh.. Gods… Lucia… I'm-"

My words were cut off completely by his lips, and I let out a silent scream of bliss when I came all over our stomachs and his hand. Another thrust or two and Lucia's body tensed above mine, a look of complete and utter pleasure on his face. He rolled over so he didn't crush me or anything, and we both lay on our sides for a few minutes, my legs still wrapped around him tightly. I buried my face in his shoulder. "That was… amazing…" I whispered when I felt our synchronized breathing slow down a bit. I knew how lame it sounded, but there were no real words to describe what we had just done.

He chuckled, nuzzling the top of my head. "I was aiming for 'mind-blowing', but I guess that amazing is acceptable enough…" he said, looking at me with complete and utter devotion and love in his eyes. Of course, at the time I figured it was just the afterglow. I didn't realize how emotionally invested he was already in this until later on in life. He sighed contently, mirroring how I felt at that moment. "You don't need her… you never did…"

"I know… I know that now," I replied happily, my mind starting to drift into Dreamland. I was exhausted. It a had been a long day already, and I knew I had many long days and nights to come. This was only the beginning.

"No matter what happens, or what anyone says," he said firmly, tilting my face to look at his. Even in the dark his eyes were still captivating. I could have stared at them forever if he hadn't finished his thought just then. "You'll always be good enough for me. Too good, even."

I didn't try to protest, I was too sleepy to even try to think up logical words even though I had full intention on arguing with him the next day. He kissed the tip of my nose and then moved so he could wrap the blankets around us. In my mind, I wasn't good enough for him… I didn't deserve the love and affection he was offering me after


	7. Ch7 :: Boyfriend

Partners

Acoustic Memory

Disclaimer : I neither own nor make money off of any of my content. All characters, brands, and or miscellaneous products are copyright of their rightful owners. I only write for your entertainment.

AN: So yes, I am currently reworking Partners (again) This time my plans include actually adding some extra content that wasn't there before, as well as fixing a lot of my types and grammar issues. For those fans of mine that have wanted to see more of my work, I'm sorry for taking so long getting to this point. For fans of Partners, this is for you! Also I'll be posting word counts, both the original and the reworked versions!

Prev. Chapter Word Count: 3,690

New Chapter Word Count: 4,983

Chapter 7 :: Boyfriend

It wasn't until almost noon that I fully woke up. I was exhausted from the compilation of all of yesterday's events and my bed was very much loving me right now. I snuggled closer to the warm body next to me, still not ready to open my eyes yet. It was nice to spend a few minutes pretending this was still a dream. While I wanted it very much to be real, if I was dreaming then I had never seen Sieg and Elie together, and had never been betrayed by her knowingly. I was still slightly heartbroken, but not in the lost-someone-I-love way… I was heartbroken in the why-couldn't-she-just-tell-me way. Wouldn't it have been easier just to tell me she needed more and couldn't be with me? That she had found someone else? Now I struggled to even see myself being friends with her in the future after this. That had been a blow way too far below the belt for me to ever try again.

It wasn't one of those 'mornings after' that you see in movies after some traumatic event had happened; I didn't wake up, screaming that there was some random guy in my bed and wondering what the hell I had done with him at the top of my lungs. I knew very well whose sculpted abs my hand was caressing (which eventually became a natural habit to me every morning), and I knew even better what we had done that night… five almost-consecutive times. I had the soreness to prove it, and we hadn't slept more than 30 minutes between each session… I was just waking up from a nap technically.

"Why exactly are you petting my stomach?" I smiled at the mostly amused tone in his voice, kissing Lucia's collar bone. He chuckled lightly, rubbing the small of my back. I was half on top of him with my right leg draped across his waist, one hand on his stomach, and my head on his shoulder. He had one arm around me, his hand on my back. I don't think I could have been more comfortable than what I was at that moment, despite the fact that I was sore in many places. I figured that a hot shower would completely clear that up though, if I was lucky. The bed was so warm and comfortable with him in it. I didn't feel the least bit uncomfortable sharing my bed with him, despite my usual need to move and roll around to get comfortable.

"It's fun, you should try it some time!" I joked, looking up at him innocently. I couldn't keep my hands off of him, and even though I know he knew it, I didn't want to say it out loud. This was an entirely new ball game for me. He was my first, although I'm not sure whether he had figured that out yet or not. I hadn't exactly mentioned it. He shook his head at me with a smirk. Before it was a smirk I would have wanted to beat the shit out of him for, but now that I knew him better I saw less arrogance and malice in it. I suppose that it was his trademark smirk, and I was already starting to think that I could get used to it over time. This was assuming that we would actually be 'dating' and not just having sex all the time, though I was fine with that alternative too.

"I'll get right on it, because you know, it's perfectly normal for a guy to lay in bed and pet his own stomach" he rolled his eyes, pushing me off of him gently and sitting up. I stretched, basking in the warm sun that was pouring through the window. I could have stayed in bed all day like this and would have been none the worse for it. I loved my bedroom as much as the next person did, but something about this morning made it different. Oh yeah, that's right. I had Lucia Raregroove in my bed.

"AH!" I yelled as he threw himself onto me, attacking my neck and chest with kisses and love bites. I pushed his head away, though he was stubborn and continued on with his current amusement. I supposed it was some sort of revenge for the petting of his stomach or something. As much as it startled me, I couldn't help but giggle and enjoy it a bit. He was very good with his mouth, in **many** aspects. "What the hell, Lucia? What's this for?"

"You're just so sexy, I couldn't resist," he murmured, resting his head on my chest and looking up at me with a lazy grin. We lay like this for a bit, just enjoyin rest of my life like this and would have never complained… well at least until I got hungry. All the pain and sorrow from yesterday seemed to be gone. All I could think about was Lucia. "Are we actually going to get out of bed, or just sleep until tomorrow?"

I grimaced. If I chose the second choice, there'd be no actual 'sleep' involved. He seemed to be unable to keep his hands off of me, and I admit I was just as bad; I had a very hard time not touching some part of him or having him touch some part of me. I was more than enjoying the ample attention I was getting, though deep down I was wondering what really attracted him to me, and vice versa. We did have a few things in common (for example, we both seemed to like having sex… especially with each other), but other than those few things we were completely different people.

"I need to take a shower, and I think there are some things I need to get done… Laundry, for example," I sighed, knowing very well that I had just done laundry Thursday night. There was something at the back of my mind though, something I had to do that I couldn't remember at the moment. I wasn't sure if it was important or not, but it was something that had been planned for weeks, and something I had gotten of of work for. I blamed all forgetfulness on Lucia; he seemed to make me able to forget many things, not that I didn't enjoy it. I knew deep down that I was just a generally forgetful person; it wasn't the first time I forgot something important in my life.

"Shower, huh?" he rolled off of me. There was a small grin on his face, as if he was trying to hide it. "Mind if I join you?"

I sat up, watching him get off the bed and collect his clothes. "Of course I mind!" I said, throwing the covers off of me. He turned and looked at me, slightly confused and hurt by my outraged tone. His frown lightened up when he saw the silly grin on my face. Now I wasn't the type for silly romantic things like kissing in the shower or the rain, or all the things I had seen in the movies Elie had dragged me to while we were dating, but I was genuinely curious if it was half as wonderful as they painted it in the shows."I'd be really disappointed if I didn't get to have a make out session with you in the shower!"

He grinned back, coming over to my side of the bed and giving me a kiss on the lips. Every kiss was passionate with him, and I enjoyed every single one we shared, even though this was probably our 200th kiss in the past 24 hours. I didn't see myself getting bored with kissing him. "Trust me, making out doesn't even cover what I had in mind for us in the shower," he ruffled my hair affectionately. I nearly went into cardiac arrest when I thought of all the things we could do in the shower. I grabbed his hand without warning, tugging him up the hall to the bathroom. He laughed, pulling me close to him after the door was shut. I initiated the kiss this time. He had done some completely mind-blowing things to me last night, and I fully intended to pay him back. After all, sis always taught me that any time someone give you something, you should give them something in return, no matter how big or small. It was the right thing to do.

Of course, like almost all plans of mine, it didn't quite work out the way I wanted. By some miracle, between the kissing and the groping we were doing, we managed to get the water on (after all, what fun would sex be in the shower if we didn't get wet?) Before I really had time to comprehend what he was doing, he had lifted me up by my waist, my feet only a few inches off the ground, and carried me into the shower. He had me pinned to the wall of the shower with his entire body, except for the arm that reached back to close the shower door. Lucia looked so tempting with water dripping down his face and chest.

Again, he lifted me up, only this time her wrapped my legs around him. I moaned, grinding up against him. He smirked, nipping at my shoulder a bit. "So impatient! Who'd have known you'd be so sex-crazy?"

"Only for you," I copied his smirk, though not with the same effect, grinding against him again, tortuously slow this time. I wanted him so badly. He

"Yeah, yeah, I got your point the first time you did that," he rolled his eyes, slowly pushing into me. I threw my head back, cringing when I banged it against the tile wall. Lucia stifled his laughter against my shoulder, though I could feel the vibration of his chest against mine. It felt almost like a cat purring, though I suppose some might compare Lucia to some type of cat, particularly a tiger or lion… or a cheetah, considering he was such a fast runner the last time I checked.

I slapped him on the back of his head, though I just ended up adding to my pain as he had such a hard head. "Not funny," I growled out, grinding down on him. He groaned, pulling part-way out of me.

"It was fucking hilarious and you know it," he replied, suddenly thrusting deep into me. I didn't dignify him with a response (more like I couldn't form coherent words at that exact moment), instead running my tongue around his earlobe. He shuddered, his pace halting for a few seconds.

It was one of the two weak spots I had discovered that night and had taken advantage of many times since then. He had only discovered one of my sensitive spots (not to say he hadn't been searching very hard for the others); my inner thigh. His right hand rested on my leg, caressing my inner thigh with his thumb. The other hand was supporting me so I didn't slide down the wall.

It was extremely ironic; showers were meant to be used to clean you off, yet they could be used for something so erotic and 'dirty'. Of course, this wasn't to say I was going to make any complaints about it; I was quite enjoying myself as he moved in and out of me.

"L-lucia!" I cried out softly as every body in my muscle tensed and I came all over the stomach I had been caressing earlier. I felt him follow me, his face buried in my hair to quiet his moans. I sighed contently, playing with a lock of his hair and wrapping my arms and legs tighter around him. "I wish we could just stay like this forever…"

"I don't think my legs would last that long, love…" he replied, untangling me from him and pulling out of me. The loss of contact made me whimper a little, a noise that was quickly cut off by his lips. He held me until he thought I was stable enough to stand on my own two legs (not that I was weak or anything… *cough cough*)

"Well, not in the shower, stupid… You know, just entwined together forever, never having to worry about work or school… or a stupid wedding I just remembered I have a tuxedo fitting for this evening…" I groaned, hitting my forehead against the wall as I remembered what exactly it was that I had to do today. This meant I would have a run-in with Sieg, most likely. While it's true I wasn't going to die of heartbreak from what I saw between him and Elie last night, it didn't make me any less pissed at either of them. That's exactly what it was now. I was hurt, yes, but more than anything I was angry at them. Especially Elie. She should have just told me. I would have taken it a lot better if she had just ended things with me before going and fucking around with Sieg. I knew I couldn't give her what she wanted, I never denied that. No matter how many times I tried, I couldn't bring myself to have sex with her… yet so easily had I fallen into Lucia's arms for physical comfort. I was understanding myself more and more as the day went by.

Lucia shook his head. "You, in a tux? That is something I'd pay to see," he said, slicking his wet hair back.

"Ugh, if I had my choice, I wouldn't even be in the stupid wedding," I grabbed the shampoo with a little more force than necessary. "Unfortunately it would have been death by the hands for my sister, which doesn't sound too fun at all."

"You're sister's the one getting married, I presume?" he took the poor bottle from my hand; had it been a person it would have been turning blue from how hard I was gripping it. I glanced at him sheepishly, mentally apologizing to the bottle. Sure, I felt stupid about it, but it made me feel better in a way… Unfortunately nothing made me feel particularly better about Catt's wedding. It wasn't something I could change or convince her to change. No matter how many times I had told her I thought she was rushing into it, she just brushed me off and told me that her and Shuda loved each other very much, and that I just didn't understand. I knew she didn't think I was stupid, just naive, and I could freely admit to not understanding why she wanted to spend the rest of her life with the red head. Deep down I did feel for Shuda. I had lived with her my entire life and I knew how… Catt she could be. She was possessive and over protective, and some times a bit selfish… She was my sister though. She loved me and I loved her and we had gotten through the hardest parts of our lives together. I had every right to feel protective over her after the slew of stupid boyfriends she had picked out over the years.

"Yeah… I don't exactly approve of the guy, and he's Sieg Hart's best friend… but he and Catt have been dating for over five years now, and I do pity the poor bastard. We're positive the only real reason that he asked her to marry him now was because she held a shot gun to his head and said that if he didn't he was dead… Because he honestly doesn't want to get married yet. While I'd prefer him never to marry her at all, at least he's trying to be sensible about it… She's just going full steam ahead with everything… The wedding's four weeks away now, and they just got engaged a few months ago."

"Well waiting five years… I'm sure she probably had everything pretty much planned out before now. And if she held a shot gun to his head, then she probably had everything set in stone. All she needed was an engagement ring and it was set!" Lucia said, pouring some shampoo in his hand and lathering it up in my hair. I normally didn't like having my hair washed for me, but his nails against my scalp was kind of soothing, especially since I was so wound up now about the wedding. I chuckled.

"I guess we never thought of it like that… And I was wondering how the hell she had managed to get a caterer and band on such short notice… Of course, I guess it helps when the band members are good friends of your little brother and are deathly afraid of you," I said, grinning as I remembered when Catt had 'begged' Musica and the boys to play for the wedding. In other words she offered them free food and beer and a list of her girlfriends that were single and looking. It was all it really took to convince them. They didn't care that if they said no they would be castrated… they just wanted the free stuff.

"Is your sister really that violent?" he raised an eyebrow, looking at me incredulously. I nodded with a solemn look on my face. He gagged for a minute before trying to make it look like he wasn't afraid at all. He had never met Catt before, so he didn't know that she was just as sweet. "That's… great… I'm starting to wonder what I'm getting myself into by sleeping with you…"

I laughed, kissing the inside of his wrist. "Don't worry, we just… won't tell her any time until after the wedding," I told him. Right now she was under major stress, so finding out her brother was sleeping with a guy would probably induce the apocalypse upon all of us. Lucia nodded his agreement, his eyes still wide. I could see that he was trying to imagine what Catt was like. "No really, she can be really sweet, but you never what to catch her under a lot of stress or get on her bad side. I mean, you're already in pretty deep shit just because you're sleeping with her little brother. She's pretty protective over me. We've always been there for each other, and it's hard on her when anything takes my time and attention away from her… I mean, yeah she fully encouraged me to date Elie back in high school, but once we actually started, it was a completely different story. I swear every time I went out on a date she had to interrogate me on every aspect of the date before AND after."

I kind of choked; this was my first real time mentioning Elie and my relationship since last night, at least aloud. While I convinced myself last night that I was angry, not sad, I couldn't help but feel a bit bitter hearing her name out loud. I was so conflicted in my own mind, I really didn't know what I was feeling anymore. There were so many new emotions. I had never been betrayed like this before, and I had never been so in love with someone before, like I was with Lucia. He looked at me with a bit of concern in his eyes. "Are you ever going to tell what happened last night to get you so upset?" he asked softly, turning me around so that he could rinse my hair. I sighed as the water washed over my back.

"I went to go turn in our papers last night, like I said I would after work," I started, closing my eyes and letting the water wash over my face as well for a moment. All the feelings I had felt when I had opened that door came rushing back. "I… I probably should have knocked first, but I figured that he probably wasn't even in there and I was just going to leave the papers on his desk… but…"

Lucia tilted my head forward so he could look me in the eye. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to…" he said softly, kissing the tip of my nose. He seemed genuinely curious, yet he obviously didn't want to hear the sadness in my voice anymore. He deserved to know though. "I just want to know what's hurting you… so I can pulverize it with my awesome mind powers!"

I laughed at his last comment. "It's not worth it, really it isn't. After all… I was trying to figure out how to end the relationship anyways. I never really was that into her, and now I know that she wasn't really into me at all. I just have to figure out how to tell her what I saw and that it's okay and it's over. I've never been in this situation before, or anything remotely similar."

"Even though it's really not okay?" he asked, cocking his head to the side, looking at me like I was trying to be some sort of self-sacrificing savior or something like that.

"What she did wasn't right, that much is true. But it's alright because if I hadn't walked in on that and realized that it was already over between me and her, I wouldn't be standing here in this shower with you," I explained to him, wrapping my arms around his waist and resting my forehead against his chest. He sighed, wrapping his arms around me, though his hands rested on my ass (because he's a pervert like that). "I could never betray someone like she did to me… but I guess I knew it was coming sooner or later, just not like this. I thought we were better friends that that. I guess I was wrong."

"You're so forgiving… You find any excuse, whether it's legit or not, to just forget the wrongs other people have done unto you… You're like an angel. You should hate me for what an ass I was to you back in high school, yet I save your life and suddenly I'm forgiven of my every sin!" he said, a mixture of awe and exasperation in his voice. "I used to get so annoyed at you for shit like that. People would make fun of you and be so cruel to you for the stupid reason of you not dating a girl until senior year, yet it was like you would completely forget about it as soon as it happened. You were always so kind and it made me what to shake some sense into you… And this, of course, is between wanting to fuck you and wanting those idiots to be right."

I looked up at him, extremely touched by this confession. I knew he was right; hell, I should have been insulted for him telling me he wanted to shake some sense into me for being so kind to others, but I couldn't even bring myself to glare at him playfully for it. I knew he was revealing a part of him that he probably would never reveal to anyone else. Besides, kind was all I knew how to be. My sister might have been sort of a bitch her entire life, but she had raised me well in the absence of reliable parents that weren't sick or traveling. That's part of the reason why I had agreed to be a part of her wedding as a matter of fact. Even though she had controlled my life for so long, and some days I felt like this was another way of keeping the reigns on me for a short period of time, I knew I owed her for raising me the right way. I smiled up at him. "I'm forgiving because if I kept every grudge inside of me without a VERY good reason, I would waste my life not getting to know people who are actually pretty decent… People like you, for example. Up until recently I never would have bothered. I didn't just forgive you just because you saved me… That would be a really superficial reason to forgive four and a half years of arguments and competition that never ended very well for either of us. I forgave you because I began to understand you a little more, and because you were nice to me when you could have just let me walk all the way home, or you could have just left me to get completely lost in the rain."

"But if I would have let you get lost in the rain, I wouldn't have had the amazing sex I had last night. It wouldn't have benefited me at all," he raised and eyebrow at smiled at me. I rolled my eyes at him. Leave it up to Lucia to bring it all back to sex.

"But what if I had never admitted to being bisexual? What if I had never mentioned fantasizing about you? You probably wouldn't have made a move on me in the first place, then we wouldn't be where we are now. You wouldn't have benefited at all from bringing me home last night either," I pointed out. He thought about that one for a minute.

"No, I probably still would have made a move on you for the simple fact I've wanted you for so long… Being that close to you would eventually have brought me to a point that I would have just thrown myself off the cliff and hoped for a best. And even if you never admitted it to me, you still would have reacted the exact same way and we'd probably still be here," he threw out his super-genius logic at me. I blinked for a moment before shaking my head. I think this was the most logical argument we had ever had, and we weren't even getting violent about it!

"No use trying to reason out the might-have-beens… we're just going to hurt ourselves with all that thinking and arguing about it," I said, starting to get tired of the conversation. It was too serious for my liking. I was tired of serious.

"My boyfriend really is some type of Angel," the blond man muttered, pulling away from me to grab the bottle of body wash. I stared at him, my mouth slightly ajar. He blinked at me and then looked at himself. "What, is something wrong? Did you suddenly realize how utterly attractive I am and how much you want me to fuck you all day long?"

"You just called me your boyfriend?" the words came out as a question, in sort of a soft squeaky voice I didn't even know I had in me. I was starting to creep myself out, but I was working more on getting through the shock of being called his boyfriend. Yeah, I had been someone's boyfriend before, but not like this. This was different than it had ever been with Elie. I wasn't using him as a cop out, and I wasn't struggling to find love for him at all. It was just there. I was in a territory I had never been in before.

"Uh, yeah…" a quizzical look crossed his face. "That's what you are… isn't it?"

I looked at my feet for a minute, not really sure what to think. "I… don't really know… I guess I figured I was more like a toy or fuck buddy or something like that," I said, looking at him a little confused. "I wasn't really sure what we are… I mean… I know what we are in a technical sense… but I didn't know how to define 'us'. Sorry… this is very new to me. Elie and I were an agreement… you and I just sort of happened."

He chuckled, pulling me into a hug. "Haru Glory, will you agree to be my boyfriend and lover… and have lots of great mind-blowing sex with me in the shower… and in bed as well," he added the last part like it wasn't really as important as me being his boyfriend or the mind-blowing shower sex.

I laughed, looking up at him. "I'll be your boyfriend, and we can have great mind-blowing sex, but there's going to have to be time limits… I don't live alone, you know… and you can't just kidnap me and randomly rape me whenever you want… and I do have physical limits, you know. Unlike you I don't have the stamina of a rabbit…" I rattled on about limitations.

Wonderful comfort sex five times in a row last night… Zero dollars.

Mind blowing sex in the shower… Zero dollars.

The look on Lucia's face when I told him that there were limits to when and where he had sex… Priceless.


End file.
